Here is the favourite cuisine of UK cities

Chinese food is the overall favourite cuisine in the UK, a new study of eating habits in cities has revealed.

Glasgow, Newcastle, Belfast and Plymouth put Chinese dishes above all others.

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Keen to make their favourite meals at home, 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.

Runner-up

Italian food is the favourite cuisine in Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield, securing second place in the overall rankings.

Lasagne is Britain’s best loved Italian dish, 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.

Home cooking

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Mexican dips are the most popular to make at home. In an average month, 42,000 people browse for guacamole recipes online while 21,000 look for salsa recipes.

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Chicken curry is the most searched for Indian dish at 23,000 times per month. With 9,700 searches, chicken tikka masala is the curry Brits crave most, while 10,000 people look for how to make a rice-based biryani dish each month.

Of the top three Japanese dishes that Brits want to make at home, 17,000 people search for ramen recipes each month, followed by 4,100 people looking for sushi recipes and 3,600 who want miso soup recipes.

Regional favourites

The research also examined where different cuisines are most popular in the UK, including locations outside of the 15 major cities. The district of Hambleton in North Yorkshire likes Italian cuisine the most, while the London borough of Hounslow has the most fans of Indian cuisine.

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With restaurants temporarily closing in lockdown, the number of Brits looking for recipes online skyrocketed in April 2020 compared to April 2019, as people attempted to make their favourite meals at home. In a single month, there were 239,000 additional searches for Chinese recipes, while Spanish recipes and Indian recipes were up 120,000 and 97,000 respectively.

The data was released by leading meal kit company HelloFresh and sourced from GoogleTrends over a 12-month period from May 26, 2019 to May 23, 2020.

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Speaking of the data, HelloFresh said: “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."

(photo: Shutterstock)