Thanksgiving serves as a time for friends, family or found-family to get together and eat a metric ton of food every year. Whether you celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, a modified one or none at all, we hope you enjoy the break during the holiday week. To celebrate, here are The Globe’s thoughts on Thanksgiving food.

Erin Yudt, Editor-In-Chief

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays because it is literally a day to just eat a lot of food without judgment. While there are so many great options, I would have to say that pumpkin roll is my favorite Thanksgiving food. I have never been one for pumpkin pie, as the crust is always too dry and the filling sometimes has a really weird texture, but pumpkin roll gives you the best balance of pumpkin flavor without being overpowering. Cream cheese frosting is also one of the best frosting flavors hands down. Pumpkin roll is not too heavy either, which is exactly what you want after several plates of the main course.

Ana Bellamy, Co Features/A&E Editor

My favorite thing to eat during Thanksgiving Dinner is my Grandma’s corn pudding. It’s kinda like corn ​​soufflé – using a lot of frozen corn, butter, milk, and eggs. It’s baked for a long time and topped with nutmeg, which gives it an extra smoky flavor. The top is crunchy, the inside is fluffy goodness. 

Carson Folio, Co-Opinions Editor

Mashed potatoes, hands down. Thanksgiving has always been an odd time for me, as I am never in the same place for it every year. One year I’m at my grandparents house in the middle of nowhere, West Virginia, the next I’m at a family friend’s house that has not seen me since I was tiny. This lack of consistency has caused me to have specific favorite foods during the season, whether it was because of something being made so well, or the exact opposite. To me, mashed potatoes are the one thing in a typical Thanksgiving feast that are almost impossible to screw up. Whether I’m having it made from home-grown potatoes right from a garden close-by or the just-add-water packs my dad would pop into the microwave for maybe a minute at the most, there is one thing that is almost certain: leftover mashed potatoes will not exist, as long as I’m present.

Matt Palange, Sports Editor

My family has a homemade Italian pasta salad recipe, and that is definitely my favorite dish for Thanksgiving. It’s just a mix of tri-color noodles, Italian dressing, black olives and pepperoni, but it just tastes so good homemade. When it comes to the common dishes on Thanksgiving, the best HAS to be stuffing. “Yummy” is all I have to say about stuffing when it is made correctly. It always just adds a nice addition to every bite. I feel that, when I was younger, mashed potatoes were my favorite. However, as my taste buds grew, I fell in love with stuffing. It has a good taste and it doesn’t overpower anything else. My least favorite is definitely cranberry sauce. Just the sweet flavor of cranberries is so gross to me. I don’t like cranberries, so I definitely do not enjoy cranberry sauce. I thought I was going to get sick after trying it. NEVER AGAIN.

August Stephens, Co-Opinions Editor

I’ve never been much of a Thanksgiving fan, but I do enjoy the wide-selection of food which is typically provided at family meals. My favorite Thanksgiving food has always been stuffing, I think it adds a perfect texture to a plate filled with mashed potatoes, green beans and some turkey. As I’ve gotten older I prefer a vegan Thanksgiving or no holiday meal at all, but it’s still a great way to eat all the food you can. 

Michelangelo Pellis, Co-News Editor 

My favorite Thanksgiving dish would have to be green bean casserole or stuffing. I can’t really make a case for the green bean casserole. I have no facts or evidence to back up why it’s so great. I just love it, especially the fried onions on top. Stuffing needs no explanation.  

Cheyenne Ruch, Copy Editor

Each year, my mom makes homemade banana pudding, so that’s hands-down my favorite. Between three people, the entire dish is gone in one night. Least favorite is definitely cranberry sauce. The texture of it is absolutely horrendous.

Vince Smykal, Copy Editor

I used to hate cranberry sauce, but then I grew up. Whether it is presented in the form of a citrusy, homemade relish or in the form of a can-shaped gelatin, cranberry sauce serves as the unsung hero of the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Is the turkey too dry? Add cranberry sauce on top of it. Are the mashed potatoes too bland? Add cranberry sauce to it. Those cranberry farmers waist-deep in their waders didn’t deal with the bites of dozens of spiders and the freezing temperature of Massachusetts water just to have their hard work dunked on by those unappreciative of the sauce. 

What about the typical main course, Turkey? Here are the staff’s thoughts.

Ana Bellamy: It can get thrown in the trash. The gravy, though, is second-best, but it will never beat ham gravy. 

Matt Palange: Turkey is so plain, that if you just eat it with gravy or stuffing on it, it tastes so good. A turkey that is cooked well and not dry is good. Solid 7/10, but ham is better.

Erin Yudt: Personally, I am not the biggest fan of turkey. It is not terrible, but it is also not amazing. It is just kind of there, to be honest. There are so many great side options that turkey almost feels like a side dish as well.

Carson Folio: Unlike mashed potatoes, there will definitely be leftover turkey on the kitchen counter if I’m present. I have never cooked a Thanksgiving turkey, so I cannot speak on how difficult it may be, but it does seem like a craft that is hard to master. Sadly, this has led me to eat more dry, overcooked and under-seasoned turkeys than any person should be comfortable doing so. Because of this, it is hard for me to imagine what a “good” turkey is supposed to taste like, since the examples I can think of have little to no flavor. Experimenting with other main dishes should happen more often. Ham is a great option, for instance.

August Stephens: I do not believe I’ve ever had a good slice of turkey. 2/10. There is no reason to eat a dry, tasteless slice of meat when there are other options available. 

Cheyenne Ruch: Solid 5/10. If it’s cooked right, it can be pretty good. However, I’ve had bad turkey more than good turkey, so it really depends.

Michelangelo Pellis: We need to let this turkey agenda go. 

Vince Smykal: I’m more of a corned beef guy, 6/10.