The most iconic part of a Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey. However, turkey on its own can be a little dry and needs flavor. The answer? Cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce adds tart, interesting flavor, moist texture, and striking color. These positives are summed up well by culinary connoisseur junior Zach Lewis: “There are three main reasons why I like cranberry sauce: the texture, the taste, and the appeal.” A huge improvement over its bland counterpart, the dull, overdone gravy, cranberry sauce should be on every slice of turkey this Thanksgiving.

Despite being considered by many as a thanksgiving must, gravy is not as traditional as cranberry sauce. During the first Thanksgiving, gravy did not make it to the table. However, berries were a major part of the feast, meanwhile cranberries have been harvested by Native Americans long before the pilgrims came. While cranberry sauce is the more traditional topping, the taste alone adds a more modern, new flavor to turkey. While gravy simply highlights and mimics the flavors of the meat, the “sauce” adds its own personal touch of flavor to the dish. Cranberry sauce is the ideal mix between exciting flavor and traditional charm.

Cranberries also add a great touch to the Thanksgiving meal: a burst of color. Amidst the drab gray, brown, and green of turkey, potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cornbread, and, worst of all, gravy, cranberry adds a refreshing splash of color to the Thanksgiving plate. This makes the meal more appealing and draws the eye towards the most important part of the dish: the cranberries.

One argument against cranberry sauce is that gravy is more popular. That is true. However, this is more of an argument in favor of cranberry sauce than it is against. While the entire family is fighting over a quickly-diminishing reservoir of gravy (the liquid gravy is also more easily spilled or overpoured than cranberry sauce’s denser texture), the smart cranberry-lover can relax with an ample supply of the superior topping.