Internet sites Google and Instagram posted possible trends and search insights this week about the best and most in-demand foods for Thanksgiving.
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, feasts and celebrations are expected to still take place despite the pandemic. Families might go on their way to celebrate the biggest holiday of the year, may it be through a simple gathering on their own homes, or through video conference calls along with other relatives and friends.
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Google presented a map based on the search queries of foods that topped the searching platform over the recent months. The queries were classified by state, on what is the most searched food in that particular place.
"Potatoes" were seen on most of the states pictured on the map. There were different variants of potato-based dishes displayed, or just the keyword itself was seen. The keyword "potatoes" topped the states of New Hampshire, Montana, and the city of New York. The term "sweet potato", on the other hand, was searched popularly in Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
"Sweet potato casserole" was number one on Hawaii, and Tennessee. The "mashed potatoes" variant was searched the most in Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, and Illinois, and "sweet potato souffle" was the most popular in Georgia.
The other words that appeared on the map presented by Google are "cranberry sauce", "cranberry relish", "gravy", "ham", "yams", "candied yams", "green beans", "green bean casserole", "cornbread dressing", "cornbread", "cornbread casserole", "sausage stuffing", "classic stuffing", "duck confit", "rice", "deviled eggs", "broccoli casserole", and "baked mac and cheese."
As Google's 'food map' showed more diversity of food choices based on searches, Instagram's presentation was filled by a much fewer choices, yet still was based on the most popular food searches by state.
The most popular key term was "cranberry" and has appeared in fourteen states. Followed by "sweet potato" which topped in eleven states, then the terms "cherry", "blueberry", and "pecan" that were the most popular key searches in six states each, "strawberry" on four states, "pumpkin" on three states, and "apple" on the lone state of Connecticut.
Instagram Updates Search Options
Meanwhile, with Instagram's new search feature, it becomes easier for users to search food trends today. Before, it has a much limited search option than Google But it was reported last week that the social media site will soon feature a keyword search option wherein users could now search keywords, instead of the usual hashtags and usernames that were the only available search options for the past years.
Topics can now be searched depending on the user's preference. Instead of accounts that could be in line with food, or photos/posts that has captions that use hashtags related to food, such as #food, #foodislife, #cooking to name a few most used hashtags for food, direct keywords like the terms in Google's food map could be seen, being more specific and direct. Results from searching in the app are expected to widen, thanks to this update.
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