Well, this is pretty brilliant: Estately.com, with the help of Google Trends, took the liberty of running hundreds of search queries to determine what words, terms, and questions were most uniquely popular by state (when compared against each other).
A sampling of the bizarre, hilarious, and sometimes unsettling results are in the above Infographic, with a full rundown and analysis available over at Estately.
We were most curious about: what food-related searches were happening state-by-state? Some, like Florida, didn’t warrant any high-indexing results in the category, but pretty much made sense (“Viagra,” “Juviderm,” and “Botox” all being popular). Other non-food states included Kentucky, which instead topped out with “Creed” (the band) and “Whores,” which are both far better than food anyway.
But most did warrant food-themed results, with three major patterns observed:
1. The reaffirmation of state stereotypes, from West Virginia’s “How to make moonshine?” to California’s “Meat is Murder.” Also, Illinois, we get it—you like pizza. But what’s with the thin crust search? Are you cheating on deep dish?
2. The reflection of a state’s popular foodstuffs: Idaho’s potatoes, Iowa’s corn, Texas’s tacos. Snooze.
3. The totally, gloriously random. See: Pennsylvania (apparently, the state’s into Jello wrestling), Wisconsin (Mike’s Hard Lemonade, lulz), and Nevada (Guy Fieri…really?)
See the full rundown below.
Arkansas
Atkin’s Diet
California
Alcoholics Anonymous, Meat is Murder, Food Poisoning
Colorado
Paleo Diet, Rocky Mountain Oysters, Marijuana
Connecticut
Pepperidge Farms
Georgia
What is tofu?
Hawaii
Spam recipe
Idaho
Caramel Corn, Potato
Iowa
Bacon, Corn, County Fair
Illinois
Deep Dish Pizza, Pizza, Thin Crust Pizza
Indiana
Jared Fogle (Subway Spokesman)
Michigan
Little Caesar, Omelette, Taco Bell
Mississippi
Lose Weight, Making Crack*
*not technically food, but cooking-related
Nevada
Guy Fiery (TV chef)
New Mexico
Frito Pie
Pennsylvania
Beer, Competitive Eating, Jello Wrestling, Malt Liquor, What is ketchup?
Rhode Island
Beer
Texas
Does beer make you fat?, Tacos, Purple Drank
Utah
Twinkie
Washington State
Non-Alcoholic Beer, Pho, Quinoa
West Virginia
How to make moonshine?, Meat Loaf Recipe
Wisconsin
Mike’s Hard Lemonade
[via Estately]