Roasted, non-brined white meat, white bread stuffing, canned cranberries, pumpkin pie, a good old fashioned hunger-induced family feud, and don't you dare skimp on the butter.

Welcome to a typical American Thanksgiving, according to our not-so-scientific but extremely festive polls on holiday behavior. Over 200,000 votes were cast in poll questions ranging from pie preferences and cooking methods to levels of meal prep panic and bad guest behavior.

As it turns out, Americans are a pretty traditional bunch of eaters, who don't fuss quite as much as sitcoms might have you believe, but they might need a reminder to defrost the turkey in time.

Read on - and don't forget the marshmallows.

White or dark turkey meat?
* White 48.49%
Dark 47.93%
No turkey – another meat 1.88%
No meat 1.7%
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Around this time last year, we ran a series of polls on bad customer behavior, from inconsiderate grocery store patrons to folks practically making babies at their restaurant table.

Today's debate comes courtesy of a 30 weeks pregnant mom arrested last week in Honolulu after she ate a sandwich in a Safeway store and forgot to pay. Nicole Leszczynski, a former Air Force staff sergeant, was charged with fourth-degree theft, a petty misdemeanor, as was her husband Marcin. The charges were later dropped by the store, but per standard procedure when both parents are arrested with a child present, Honolulu police called Child Welfare Services, and their 2 year old daughter was taken into custody overnight.
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In the midst of the debt ceiling debates, four-term Missouri Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver took to Twitter to express his deep disgust with the terms of the deal, Tweeting in quick succession:

"This deal is a sugar-coated satan sandwich. If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see."

"This debt deal is antithetical to everything the great religions of the world teach, which is take care of the poor, aged, vulnerable."

"Still, I do not want to see the economy fall into an abyss. Which is what would happen if we were to default."

All matter for serious, substantive discussion to be sure, but we kept going back to that sandwich part. What's in a Satan sandwich? Deviled ham? Goat horn peppers? Marmite? (Surely that is not the foodstuff of the angels.)
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Food says so much about where you’ve come from, where you’ve decided to go, and the lessons you’ve learned. It’s geography, politics, tradition, belief and so much more and this week, we invite you to dig in and discover the rich, ever-evolving taste of America in 2011. The week will culminate with a Secret Supper in New York City, and Eatocracy invites you to participate online starting Monday July 11th at 6:30 p.m. E.T.

The first time I ate matzo ball soup, I was sure it was the most exotic thing I would ever put in my mouth, so long as I lived. To Jewish people since time immemorial, it's been the homely stuff of a family kitchen - filling, grounding, comforting and totally quotidian.

To me, a thoroughly unworldly girl celebrating the occasion of her First Holy Communion at a Jewish-French restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio, it was like a bolt of lightning in the dead of night, suddenly illuminating a previously unseen city in the distance.
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