What's the Most-Popular Delivery Food in Your State?

Lauri Patterson, Lauri Patterson
Noting that online dish-delivery orders are sharply on the rise (they more than doubled from 2010 to 2015, while telephone orders consistently declined, according to Quartz), Eater asked the online and mobile food-ordering companies GrubHub and DoorDash which foods were most popular in regions around the country and broke it down state by state. (Pizza, presumably quite popular, may not have been thoroughly represented, since a lot of pizza purveyors have their own ordering systems.)
Here are seven interesting takeout takeaways:
1: Chicken is the most-ordered food in 12 U.S. states (including Michigan, Rhode Island, and a whole swath of Southern states like North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida), earning it top takeout honors, according to Eater’s number crunchers.
2: In second place is Chinese food, a delivery food favored by people in five states as varied as South Carolina, Oklahoma, Colorado, Oregon and Nevada.
3: They love their pizza in Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and (of course!) New York.
4: Burgers are big in Texas, as is everything else, and in Indiana, too. New Hampshire and Massachusetts apparently share a love of sushi with Louisiana. (What, no gumbo?)
5: New Jersey and Illinois are as dedicated to Mexican food as Kansas and Missouri are to pasta.
6: And then there are the rando state delivery-food faves that Eater is classifying as “other.” We’re looking at you, cheese-curd-craving Wisconsinites and “cinnamon stick”-scarfing Utahans. And who knew Alabamans were so committed to pita?
7: Still, you’ve got to commend the residents of New Mexico. Even when they’re too lazy to make dinner, they keep a solid grasp on their health. Their most-popular delivery food? Salad — a sharp contrast to their neighbors in Arizona, who really love their french fries.
Fascinating. Here’s hoping everyone remembered to tip their delivery people!
Photo: iStock