The end of the year offers an opportunity for retrospection and reflection, and plenty of platforms are offering perfectly packaged recaps for your convenience. One food delivery app, in particular, is dishing out the delicious deets on both our collective and individual dining habits.
As Food & Wine reports, Grubhub dropped its “2023 Delivered” report just last week and the results are certainly … interesting. From viral trends (brb, taking a #DietCokeBreak) to zesty bites, data from millions of delivery orders offers a snapshot of our favorite meals.
Above all, in 2023 Americans kept things spicy. A whopping 91,000 customers added Sirarcha to their meals, suggesting that maybe absence — in the form of devastating national shortages — really does make the heart grow fonder. Grubhub’s rankings of the top-ordered spicy items, ahead:
- Spicy potato soft tacos
- Spicy chicken sandwich
- Spicy tuna roll
- Hot and sour soup
- Drunken noodles
Corresponding data on Tums was not included, unfortunately.
French fries were also the top-ordered side dish. More than 600,000 customers chose to pair that salty goodness with a salad. Diners washed it all down with a crisp Diet Coke, as in-office orders of the soft drink rose by over 17% this year.
On the more chaotic end of things? Late-night coffee orders spiked, as night owls requested over 10 million cups of Joe this year. We also asked for dairy milk (gasp!) more frequently in those coffees. Meanwhile, we snacked our way through 6.9 million pickles (a nod to TikTok’s well-earned obsession with the briney veggies).
The data on dinner grub proved similarly surprising. Hawaiian pizza fared remarkably well, as Grubhub notes a significant (33%) uptick in pineapple-topped pies this year. Pinterest also recently reported increases in pineapple-related searches — perhaps the tropical fruit is finally taking the spotlight?
Either way, it seems this year’s biggest theme was unpredictability. Last year’s “Delivered” report named burritos and cheeseburgers as top Grubhub favorites; a safe, dependable contrast to consumers’ choices this year. “In 2023, ‘doing it for the vibes’ was a way of life as diners found joy in stepping out of their comfort zones and breaking conventions,” the company wrote in a press release.
What will 2024 bring? Let’s dine and find out!
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Photo Credit: XanderSt / Shutterstock.com