Wisconsin's Most Abnormally Popular Food Is ... Kinda Boring

James Johonnott |

The Huffington Post and Yelp teamed up to bring us today’s map: a look at the most disproportionately popular cuisine in each state. The results were collected by comparing each state to the national average of a variety of different restaurant categories (such as Mexican, Vietnamese, southern, traditional American, and buffet). The map shows which cuisines are the most abnormally (not most) common in each state, and some of the results are a tad bizarre.

Wisconsin. More American than the rest of America? (Map: Yelp/The Huffington Post)
Wisconsin: More American than the rest of America? (Map: Yelp/The Huffington Post) Look closer.

From Huffington Post’s website, the top 5 results for Wisconsin are:

  1. Traditional American – 52 percent higher than national average
  2. Soup* – 34 percent higher than national average
  3. New American – 25 percent higher than national average
  4. Sandwiches – 21 percent higher than national average
  5. Pizza – 20 percent higher than national average

This raises a few questions for me. If Wisconsin has higher than the national average of traditional American restaurants, does that mean our palettes are more American than the rest of America?

Does this mean that American cuisine should actually be called “traditional Wisconsin?" Also, I’m glad that Hawaii has more Hawaiian restaurants than the national average. Of course, so does Utah.

*Seriously? Soup?