REVEALED: THE UK’S FAVOURITE CUISINE BY CITY
A new study has revealed the favourite global cuisines in 15 major cities in the UK and the most Instagrammed dish from each.
The research, conducted by meal kit delivery company HelloFresh, has looked at the search demand for different cuisines in cities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland across a 12 month period.
Of the 15 cities analysed, Chinese food is the most popular in four cities — Glasgow, Newcastle, Belfast and Plymouth — making it the UK’s overall favourite cuisine.
And Brits are keen to share snaps of their chinese dishes on social media; sweet and sour meals are the most shared, posted a staggering 286,620 times in total, while chow mein is in second place with 231,100 posts.
However, chow mein is one of Britain’s best-loved Chinese dishes. On average, there are 5,900 searches for chow mein recipes and 4,400 for chicken chow mein recipes each month.
Italian food is the favourite cuisine in Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield, securing second place in the overall rankings.
Over on Instagram, fans of Italian food are most likely to share photos of pizzas; to date, there have been an incredible 55,600,000 pictures of pizza shared on the platform!
In terms of the dishes we want to make at home, lasagne takes the top spot, with 70,000 people searching for a recipe each month. Other classic Italian dishes followed in second and third place, with 54,000 searches for pizza dough recipes and 31,000 searches for spaghetti bolognese recipes.
Mexican, Indian and Japanese food were tied in third place, with each a favourite in two UK cities. Edinburgh and Bristol residents like Mexican food best, while Cardiff and Portsmouth prefer Indian cuisine. People in London and Manchester were found to favour Japanese food.
Photos of Mexican dips were found to be the most shared on Instagram; salsa-related hashtags are used across a whopping 8,149,200 posts! This isn’t surprising when you consider that each month, 42,000 people browse for guacamole recipes online while 21,000 look for salsa recipes.
With 1,063,000 posts across just three hashtags, biryani is the most posted Indian dish on Instagram. However, the dish isn’t the most searched for. While 10,000 people look for how to make the rice-based dish each month, chicken curry is the most searched for Indian dish, looked up 23,000 times per month.
Ramen was the most popular dish both in terms of Instagram posts and online searches. There are 10,662,000 ramen posts on Instagram, while 17,000 people search for ramen recipes each month. 4,100 people look for sushi recipes and 3,600 want miso soup recipes.
Speaking of the data, Andre Dupin, Head Chef at HelloFresh, commented “It’s great to see that a range of global cuisines are so popular in the UK and that a growing number of Brits are cooking their favourite dishes at home. Lockdown changed the pace of life for many of us, giving us more time to explore our hobbies and interests. For some, this has meant spending more time in the kitchen, developing skills that we can benefit from long after the lockdown ended.”
View the map in full and find more information about which recipes are most in-demand here.
Top 10 Most Instagrammed Dishes
1. Pizza – 55,600,000 posts
2. Burger – 24,900,000 posts
3. Pancake – 15,798,000 posts
4. Cheesecake – 11,298,000 posts
5. Ramen – 10,662,000 posts
6. Salsa – 8,149,200 posts
7, Sushi – 7,700,000 posts
8. Nachos – 2,973,400 posts
9. Burrito – 2,845,000 posts
10. Paella – 2,797,000 posts
