Figures by Betway have shown that pizza was the most-searched food in 55 of the 81 countries for which data was available. It has proven particularly popular in eastern Europe, with Belarus carrying out the most searches for ‘pizza delivery’ per capita according to Google Trends.Russia and Ukraine, meanwhile, were fourth and fifth respectively. Interestingly, vegan food was the most-searched term in Russia – the only time it appeared in the top two searches for any country in the world. That could have something to do with the fact that it’s common practice for followers of the Russian Orthodox church – who make up 71 per cent of the Russian population according to a 2017 survey – to eat a plant-based diet during Lent, which ran from 26 February – 9 April this year. Chinese was the next-most popular takeaway after pizza, topping the charts in 11 countries, including the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and, unsurprisingly, China. In fact, when looking at the cities that searched for the term the most, all of the top eight were in English-speaking countries.
Per capita, it was the that UK searched for ‘Chinese cuisine’ more than any other country. Sushi was the third-most popular of the three leading takeaways worldwide. The dish is synonymous with Japan, so it seems strange that, per capita, it was only third on the list of countries that searched for it the most. Instead, it was Denmark that scoffed the most sushi per person. Considering that raw, pickled and smoked fish have been staples of the Danish diet since the Viking era, perhaps its popularity is understandable. With nearby Norway being the largest salmon-producing nation in the world, there is also plenty to go around.
Which takeout brands are people searching for most?
Given its ubiquity across the world, it’s unsurprising that McDonald’s dominated searches for branded fast food companies. The burger-flipping giant is the world’s largest restaurant chain in terms of revenue and, as of 2018, had 37,855 outlets in 100 different countries. Forty-one of 81 countries for which data was available searched for McDonald’s more than any other restaurant or branded food takeout. The highest concentration of those searches came from Europe, with 26 of the 30 European nations hankering for a Big Mac. KFC was the second-most popular fast food joint, topping the charts in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.
But the country that most craved the Colonel’s secret blend of herbs and spices was Malaysia, amassing an average of 301,000 searches per month – more than any other country. It is estimated that KFC serves 25m customers every month in Malaysia – only 6.5m fewer than its entire population. The menu offers various localised items like rice congee – a type of porridge – and teh tarik – a milky tea that is popular in southeast Asia. The most popular company in one specific place was Pizza Hut in the USA, which averaged 1.83m searches per month between March and May.
Which countries around the world are ordering the most takeout food?
According to data from Google Keyword Planner, there were 26.6m searches for ‘delivery’, ‘food delivery’, ‘takeaway’ and ‘takeout’ between March and May, with the USA accounting for 10.5m (39%) of them alone. But per capita, the USA only ranked second among the countries with the highest volume of searches, with one for every 31 members of the population during the three-month period. Topping the charts was Belgium, with one search for every 10 people. Next on the list were Australia and the United Kingdom, with one in 40 and one in 44 respectively. Despite recording the fifth-most searches for takeout food among the top 10 countries, India had the fewest per capita with one for every 1,457 people.
