Hungry for More: Cities Where People Can't Find the Food They Want

Sticking With Favorites, Getting Curious About New Flavors

Americans still love their go-to meals, but they're also getting more adventurous with what they want to try next. Here's a look at which cuisines are the most in demand and which have recently gained in popularity.

Mexican food was the most searched-for cuisine in the country, with over 26 million searches in the past year. Indian and Italian food weren't far behind, pulling in 20.9 million and 19.7 million searches each. These favorites showed up at the top of search trends in major cities again and again.

Mexican food is a clear favorite nationwide, ranking in the top 5 most searched cuisines in 75 out of the 80 largest U.S. cities. Italian (70 cities), breakfast & brunch (60), Indian (57), and fast food (55) were also among the most commonly searched cuisines.

At the same time, other cuisines are seeing a big spike in new interest. Searches for Bulgarian food jumped 124.2% over the past year. Halal and Canadian cuisines also rose significantly, by 74.3% and 72.8%, respectively. These trends suggest Americans are open to trying something new and that the market for less common fare is heating up fast.

Local Favorites in Different Cities

Every city has its own tastes, shaped by local culture and community. In some places, one type of cuisine clearly stands out from the rest.

Some cities showed a strong preference for homegrown or culturally rooted cuisines. For example, in El Paso, Texas, 15.7% of cuisine-related searches were for Mexican food. Similarly, New Orleans residents showed significant interest in Cajun and Creole cuisine, making up 14.2% of local searches, and Italian cuisine captured 11% of food-related interest in Boston.

In El Paso, 40.4% of restaurants serve Mexican food. Wichita, Kansas, leans heavily toward fast food, which makes up 27% of its restaurants. And in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, American cuisine dominates the scene, accounting for 21% of local spots. In some cities, local favorites are easy to find, but in others, people are searching for certain types of food that just aren't showing up on menus.

Where Demand Is High, but Restaurants Are Missing

Not every popular cuisine is easy to find. Some foods are getting a lot of attention online, but they're still hard to track down in real life. Here's what people are looking for compared to what's actually being served up most often in their cities.

Ethiopian, Asian, and Korean cuisines are in demand, but they're consistently underrepresented compared to local restaurants. That means there's a clear gap between what people want and what they can actually get.

On the other hand, some cuisines are showing up more than people are looking for. Fast food, Mexican, and American restaurants often exceed demand. In cities where interest in them has plateaued or declined, supply still runs high, hinting at a saturated market or a mismatch between current tastes and old favorites. Even for something as popular as Mexican food, some cities already have more options than locals are asking for. This suggests that while nationwide interest is strong, not every market can sustain additional restaurants in this category.

A few cities had even broader mismatches. Stockton, California, led with gaps in eight different cuisines, while Riverside, California, followed with four. Columbus (Ohio), Long Beach (California), Newark (New Jersey), and Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) each had three underrepresented food types. For restaurateurs and entrepreneurs, these cities may be golden opportunities to introduce new dining options that match current local interests.

Conclusion: Turning Cravings Into Opportunity

The gap between what people want to eat and what's actually available opens the door for food entrepreneurs to step in. By using data to spot where demand is high but options are limited, restaurant brands can find the right cities to grow and serve communities hungry for something new. Turning those opportunities into real businesses often takes upfront capital, especially for startups or restaurants looking to expand. With the right idea, the right location, and the right support, there's plenty of room to serve what people are really craving.

Methodology

For this study, we leveraged Google Trends search data and the Yelp Fusion API to measure the demand and supply of certain cuisines across the 80 largest U.S. cities.

For Google Trends, we analyzed searches for 74 different cuisines in each of the 80 cities over the last two years. For current demand, we looked at June 2024 to May 2025. For increases in searches, we looked at how June 2023 to May 2024 compared to June 2024 to May 2025.

For the Yelp Fusion API, we analyzed the number of restaurants for 74 different cuisines in each of the 80 cities. To determine whether demand and supply in a city match, we looked at the percentage of searches we gathered for a specific cuisine (demand) and compared it to the percentage of restaurants we gathered that were tagged with a specific cuisine (supply).

About Clarify Capital

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