What have we been ordering during lockdown?

Using data from Google, Betway Online have discovered the dishes that people around the world have been getting delivered while restaurants have been closed.

People all over the world have had to spend plenty of time at home over the last three months during lockdown and ordering takeaway food has become the norm in our homes.

According to Google Keyword Planner, global searches for ‘delivery,’ ‘food delivery,’ ‘takeaway’ and ‘takeout’ rose by almost 300 per cent between March and May. But which countries have ordered in the most often and what type of food have they been craving?

Which takeaway has proved most popular?

The figures show that pizza was the most-searched food in 55 of the 81 countries for which data was available. It has proven particularly popular in eastern Europe, with Belarus carrying out the most searches for ‘pizza delivery’ per capita according to Google Trends. Russia and Ukraine, meanwhile, were fourth and fifth respectively.

Interestingly, vegan food was the most-searched term in Russia – the only time it appeared in the top two searches for any country in the world.

That could have something to do with the fact that it’s common practice for followers of the Russian Orthodox church – who make up 71 per cent of the Russian population according to a 2017 survey – to eat a plant-based diet during Lent, which ran from 26 February – 9 April this year.

Chinese was the next-most popular takeaway after pizza for ordering during the lockdown, topping the charts in 11 countries, including the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and, unsurprisingly, China. In fact, when looking at the cities that searched for the term the most, all of the top eight were in English-speaking countries.

Per capita, it was the that UK searched for ‘Chinese cuisine’ more than any other country.

Sushi was the third-most popular of the three leading takeaways worldwide.

The dish is synonymous with Japan, so it seems strange that, per capita, it was only third on the list of countries that searched for it the most.

Instead, it was Denmark that scoffed the most sushi per person. Considering that raw, pickled and smoked fish have been staples of the Danish diet since the Viking era, perhaps its popularity is understandable. With nearby Norway being the largest salmon-producing nation in the world, there is also plenty to go around.

How has demand for takeout food changed?

Unsurprisingly, with restaurants having to close their doors, the popularity of ordering in has skyrocketed in most countries.

There were three-figure percentage increases in six of the 10 countries that searched for takeout food the most.

The country that saw the biggest spike was Mexico, with monthly searches increasing by 1,223 per cent. According to Google Keyword Planner, there were 31,480 in March compared to 416,400 in May.

The reason for this is probably the late closure of restaurants in Mexico, with most places shutting their doors on 23 March.

Interestingly, despite posting the third-highest search volume between March and May, the United Kingdom was the only nation in the top 10 whose demand for takeaway food actually decreased during the same period, by a total of 20 per cent.

How are people ordering their food?

With USA dominating the volume of searches, it’s no surprise that the most popular takeout food apps for ordering during the lockdown have all been American companies.

Caviar – a food delivery service operating in 11 different states including New York, Texas and California – saw the biggest increase in search traffic worldwide with numbers increasing by half in March.

Searches for Uber Eats increased by 22.2 per cent, while it was also the only app in the top five that was more popular outside the USA.

Uber Eats is available in over 6,000 cities across 45 countries and per capita, was searched for the most in Taiwan.