When it comes to regional cuisines in America, thoughts of Louisiana gumbo and Texas barbecue cross your mind, though those delicacies aren’t all that popular.
Based on the response to a recent survey, Americans seem to prefer whatever the country’s upper east end is cooking up, as food labeled “New York/New Jersey or New England cuisine” scored highly overall.
At BetMassachusetts.com, your home for the best Massachusetts sports betting coverage, we were curious about what regional foods were favorites among Americans. Using Survey Monkey, we ran a survey asking 1,081 respondents “Which area of the United States has the best cuisine?” We broke down the data into the top 10 most popular U.S. regional cuisines. Out of the entire group, 6.2% of the respondents selected “Other.” We also asked respondents what their go-to comfort food is and how often they cook meals at home vs. order out/dine out.
Top 10 Most Popular U.S. Regional Cuisines
Rank | Regional Cuisine | Total Percentage of Vote |
1 | New York/NJ Cuisine | 21.0% |
2 | Southern Cuisine | 11.93% |
3 | New England Cuisine | 11.19% |
4 | Chicago Cuisine | 9.53% |
5 | Texas Cuisine | 9.16% |
6 | Arizona/California Cuisine | 8.97% |
7 | Philadelphia Cuisine | 7.03% |
8 | New Orleans Cuisine | 5.92% |
9 | Baltimore Cuisine | 4.81% |
10 | Kansas City/ St. Louis Cuisine | 4.26% |
Overall, the seafood-heavy food stock that constitutes “New England cuisine” was the third most popular cuisine genre in America, with 11.19% of survey respondents choosing the region as their go-to for regional food.
That put the greater Massachusetts region behind “New York & New Jersey cuisine” (21.0%) and “Southern cuisine” (11.93%) nationally for the third spot overall, ahead of “Chicago cuisine” (9.53%), “Texas cuisine” (9.16%) and “Arizona/California cuisine” (8.97%).
Throw in “Philadelphia cuisine” (7.03%), “New Orleans cuisine” (5.92%), “Baltimore cuisine” (4.81%) and “Kansas City/St. Louis cuisine” (4.26%) and you have the full rundown of America’s favorite types of food in 2024.
Top 5 Go-To Comfort Foods
Rank | Response | Total Percentage of Vote |
1 | American (cheeseburger, hot dog) | 31.54% |
2 | Mexican | 16.10% |
3 | Italian | 15.45% |
4 | Southern (BBQ, Fried Chicken) | 10.82% |
5 | Chinese | 9.25% |
When it came to America’s choice for comfort food, “American food” scored the top spot, with 31.54% of all votes, beating out Mexican food (16.10%), Italian food (15.45%), Southern food (10.82%) and Chinese food (9.25%).
Cook at home or eat out?
Rank | Response | Total Percentage of Vote |
1 | Always cook at home | 30.25% |
2 | About 50/50 between cooking & dine-out | 27.10% |
3 | Sometimes cook at home | 22.66% |
4 | Sometimes dine-out/take-out | 18.22% |
5 | Always dine-out/take-out | 1.76% |
As for food preferences, it seems like Americans prefer to cook their meals within the confines of their own home, with 30.25% of respondents saying they always cook their meals at home, compared with 27.10% that said they split their meals between their home and restaurants.
Throw in 22.66% of respondents that sometimes cook at home, 18.22% that sometimes do dine out or takeout and 1.76% that always get their food at a restaurant (dine-out or takeout) and you have the full list of cooking choices in America.
Author
Christopher Boan has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
