It is winter after all, but I’ll pass on the eggplant parmesan
Mike Morin
Now that the election is over, kind of, I’m moving.
Not to Canada but maybe Maine or Georgia. Grubhub, the food delivery service, recently released top trending foods they delivered this year in each state. Most were comfort foods that pretty much turn the USDA food pyramid upside down. The healthy eating triangle is now sporting a bulging hypotenuse, showing great potential of becoming an out-of-shape geometric mess. Its 180-degrees is pushing 250. Now it qualifies as obtuse.
I don’t mean to dis New Hampshire cuisine, but Grubhub claims the trendiest food they deliver to Granite Staters is eggplant parmesan. Why would I get that when next door neighbor Vermont’s trendiest food is lasagna, the same as eggplant parm but with real pasta and another 300 calories. It is winter after all and we need to put on our hibernation layer of insulation.
Even Maine beats us with their No. 1 delivery entree: pulled pork sandwich. Mainers know their food. Alabama picks the same choice in the Grubhub survey. Though I’ve never had the desire to live any further south than Sky Meadow Country Club, I am attracted to the food delivery choices in Dixie.
Louisiana’s No. 1 Grubhub trend is barbecue ribs. Georgia has gumbo going on. Oklahoma Sooners have a collective sweet tooth, selecting caramel crème brulee.
Much like New Hampshire, California has Grubhub vegetarian deliveries as their top trend with Portobello steak. Tasty, but if I’m calling something steak, I’m with my brothers in West Virginia. They pick rib eye steak, easily the tastiest beef cut going.
Breaking news. Isn’t Nebraska, home of Omaha Steaks, cow country? Swallow hard Cornhuskers. Grubhub’s trendiest delivery in your state is smoked salmon. I guess in 2020, anything is possible. It’s similar to ordering clam chowder in Arizona. Or green chili in New Hampshire.
A few other interesting nuggets from the Grubhub survey: Their biggest single-food order of the year was someone ordering 300 bean burritos. Here’s where sporting your face mask comes in play for a bit of relief. The runner-up went to a person ordering 250 tacos.
Spicy chicken sandwiches are up 299% from the previous year. Close behind are plant-based burgers, upticking at 291%. I have had an Impossible (non-meat) Whopper. I will admit is tasted pretty good, but I’m sorry, a Popeye’s spicy chicken sandwich is way better than just an eight-percentage point edge in the stats column.
Another trending Grubhub fave, up 273%, is the vanilla shake. Reminds me, I need to place to call to the Puritan Backroom to see if they can send along a couple legendary mudslides that I believe do contain vanilla in there somewhere. If not, send them anyway.
As interesting as the Grubhub survey is, nothing on TV is more fun these days than the Uber Eats commercials featuring Olympic gold-winning gymnast Simone Biles and Jonathan Van Ness, Queer Eye guy, ordering cheesy cauliflower pizza with extra broccolini. I’m calling Uber Eats and sticking with my Popeye’s chicken sammy and Puritan mudslide.
Contact Mike Morin at mike morinmedia@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @MikeMorinMedia. His column runs the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month.