Pizza, Pasta Take Top Spot, Closely Followed by Chinese & Japanese Cuisine

Italian cuisine is the most preferred dish in the world. At least that’s what a recent survey conducted by YouGov, the UK-based leading international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, has suggested. The survey was conducted among more than 25,000 people in 24 countries about their cuisine preferences. The findings of the survey revealed that pizza and pasta are among the most popular foods in the world.

They asked people, which of 34 national cuisines they had tried and whether they liked or disliked them, with Italian food being the most well-liked. The cuisine received an average popularity score of 84 percent across the 24 nations they studied.

Patriotically, the biggest fans of Italian food are Italians themselves, with 99 percent enjoying their national cuisine. Other big fans include Spaniards (94 percent of those who have tried it say they like it) and the French (92 percent), while the least impressed by Italian food are the Chinese (59 percent).

Second place behind Italian food goes to Chinese cuisine, which scored on average 78 percent across the countries surveyed. It’s liked by 95 percent of Chinese people, with Singaporeans (94 percent of those who have tried it say they like it) and Hongkongers (91 percent) also particular fans. The cuisine is least popular in Saudi Arabia (54 percent) and Indonesia (57 percent).

The world’s third most popular cuisine is Japanese, scoring an average of 71 percent across the 24 nations. Aside from the 94 percent of Japanese people who like it, 94 percent of Singaporeans who have tried it also do, as well as 93 percent of Hongkongers. Once again it’s the Saudi Arabians who are least enamoured, with only 43 percent enjoying it.

At the bottom of the table comes Peruvian cuisine, which received an average score of only 32 percent. With almost same percentage score, Finnish cuisine comes just below Peruvian cuisine.

Indian cuisine is among the top ten popular cuisines in the world, standing at number nine, with an average popularity score of 62 percent across the 24 countries.

Other than their own cuisine, which 93 percent of Indians claim to like, they also have a palate for Italian (80 percent), Chinese (77 percent) and American cuisines (75 percent). However, Indians have a lower tolerance for Norwegian, Filipino, Finnish and Peruvian cuisines.

Although 77 percent Singaporeans and 70 percent Malaysians like Indian cuisine, the rest of South East Asia has a lower preference for our food. In Indonesia, 49 percent and in Vietnam 44 percent of those who have tasted Indian food claimed to like it.

In Thailand, on the other hand, people hold the cuisine in disdain, with only 27 percent who tried it stating they like it. However, it is actually China that has the least liking for Indian food, with only 26 percent saying they like it.

Indian cuisine is more warmly received in the European countries, with over half the people in the surveyed countries saying they like it. It is particularly popular in Britain (84 percent of those who have tried it say they like it), Norway (75 percent), France and Finland (71 percent).

Nearly three quarter (74 percent) Australians are fans of Indian cuisine. Even in Middle-Eastern countries, Indian food is a hit, with 76 percent in Saudi Arabia and 71 percent in UAE saying they like it.