Winter is only weeks away, though it already feels like it in some of the country (though it’s been warmer in New York City the past week than it has in Portland, Oregon). Whether it’s the lack of sunlight, the listlessness the onset of a cold brings, or just being separated from family during a festive season, comfort food is on the menu for lots of people. Winter is the busiest season for food delivery, according to GrubHub and Rent.com. The food delivery site and apartment rental service recently paired up for a poll of 1,000 renters to find what different cities are ordering when it comes to comfort food.
To get the results, the sites compared “the relative lift a market sees in comfort food orders in November and December and ranked them according to the difference in lift on a national basis.” The first thing the poll found is that while 20 percent of those ordering in just don’t want to leave their home, 36 percent have a less seasonal reason for getting delivery: not wanting to cook. What everyone’s ordering depends on what city you’re talking about. Apparently Seattle loves its cheese bread (though we know lots of our neighbors to the north and have never heard this is thing), while Philadelphia is into something called mega fries. (As far as we can tell, it’s fries topped with bacon, Cheez Whiz, and either mozzarella or provolone.)
The mega fries appear to be something of a regional delicacy, as they’re found in the Philly area’s delivery orders 7,375.9 percent more often than the rest of the country. Likewise for cheese curds and the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area, where it’s 3,012.8 percent more common than anywhere else, according to the poll. The most interesting part of the poll? Discovering food we’d never tried before. Thanks, Stamford, Connecticut, for pointing us toward lomo saltado. You can check out the rest of the results below:
Champaign and Urbana, Ill. — Cheese dip
Cheese dip is 8,076.9 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Atlanta, Sandy Springs, and Roswell, Ga. — Chicken coconut soup
Chicken coconut soup is 3,412.3 percent more commonly ordered here than in the rest of the country.
Ann Arbor, Mich. — Gourmet pizza
Gourmet pizza is 3,028.4 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Trenton, N.J. — California cheeseburger
California cheeseburger is 5,509.4 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Washington D.C., Arlington and Alexandria, Va. — Oven-roasted wings
Oven-roasted wings are 2,961.8 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Providence and Warwick, R.I. — Buffalo chicken calzone
Buffalo chicken calzone is 1,078.4 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood, Colo. — Vietnamese egg roll
Vietnamese egg roll is 7,701.3 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Bridgeport, Stamford, and Norwalk, Conn. — Lomo saltado
Lomo saltado is 2708.6 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Chicago, Naperville, and Elgin, Ill. — Chicken vesuvio
Chicken vesuvio is 16093.4 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Anaheim, Calif. — Baked salmon roll
Baked salmon roll is 11,411.1 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Ithaca, N.Y. — Vegetarian spring roll
Vegetarian spring roll is 4,173.7 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Milwaukee, Waukesha, and West Allis, Wis. — Cheese curd
Cheese curd is 3,012.8 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Philadelphia, Penn.; Camden, N.J.; and Wilmington, Del. — Mega fries
Mega fries is 7375.9 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Boston, Cambridge, and Newton, Mass. — Peking ravioli
Peking ravioli is 45671.5 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellevue, Wash. — Cheese bread
Cheese bread is 5,753.2 percent more commonly ordered than the rest of the country.
