Coquitlam has been ranked as the fourth most popular city in Canada for Mexican cuisine and the sixth most popular for Chinese food.
The ranking, compiled by the international foodie blog Chef’s Pencil, comes from a recent report based on Google Trends data.
By compiling and sorting search data, the report opens a window into how people both eat in and dine out across Canada.
Google uses artificial intelligence to come up with consumer trends scores based on level of interest in a topic; for example interest in Mexican cuisine could include searches like Mexican restaurants, Mexican rice, tacos or enchilada recipes. Then, Google organizes that search data into geographic areas, from countries to cities and towns, and then allocates a score relative to all the searches in those areas.
Once the scores were tallied, the report found Chinese food to be the most popular cuisine in the country, with B.C. municipalities taking the top six spots.
“The undisputed capital Canadian city for this colourful, aromatic cuisine is Richmond, British Columbia, which scored 71, the city where 'Far East meets Canadian West Coast' and 65% of the population are Asian,” wrote author Caroline Williams of Chef’s Pencil in a recent blog.
But Coquitlam also ranked among the top aficionados of Chinese food in the country, coming in sixth nationwide.
Top 5 international cuisines according to Google Trends:
- Chinese (Google Trends score: 55);
- Italian (GTS: 36);
- Thai (GTS: 33);
- Indian (GTS: 25);
- and Mexican (GTS: 23).
Mexican food was also most popular in B.C., with Vancouver leading the pack and Coquitlam coming in fourth.
“In the five years between 2011 and 2016, four times as many Mexicans ventured as far as Canada than in the entire 1980s,” wrote author Caroline Williams of Chef’s Pencil in a recent blog. “And they brought with them their unique flavours derived from exquisite spices, over 100 varieties of chili, and plentiful ways of using corn.”
Here’s how Canada’s most popular cuisines broke down by city:
5. MEXICAN (POPULARITY SCORE: 23)
4. INDIAN (POPULARITY SCORE: 25)
3. THAI (POPULARITY SCORE: 33)
2. ITALIAN (POPULARITY SCORE: 36)
