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An Indian Treat Is One of the Most Popular 4th of July Dishes in America

Colman Andrews

Published: July 2, 2019 10:51 am

Last Updated: January 6, 2020 3:14 am

What do Americans want to eat on the July 4th? You can probably guess most of the answers, but one will almost certainly come as a surprise.

DoorDash, the largest food delivery service in the country (and second-largest in the world, after Uber Eats), analyzed food orders from across the nation on the holiday itself last year to discern what the ten most popular items were. Taking first place, not surprisingly, was the cheeseburger. In fact, cheeseburgers and the number-three item, french fries, together accounted for 58% of what we ordered. This isn’t surprising considering our immense annual hot dog and hamburger consumption by state.

Between those two iconic foods was another one, a variation on the first — the bacon cheeseburger. Numbers four through eight were, in descending order, hot dogs, onion rings, boneless wings, soft drinks, and traditional wings. Then, between the last of those and the number-ten favorite (tortilla chips), came the big surprise:

The ninth most ordered food item from DoorDash on the Fourth of July last year, and the third most ordered side dish, was…….garlic naan, the garlicky Indian flatbread traditionally cooked in a tandoori oven but reproduceable at home with a cast-iron skillet.

In addition to its nationwide ranking, the DoorDash study broke out the most often ordered foods for the occasion in five major U.S. cities — New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

In San Francisco, fries took first place. Number two, though, was that garlic naan, and there were two other Indian dishes on that city’s top ten — chicken tikka masala at number four and basmati rice at number ten. Another Asian dish made the list, too — pad Thai at number nine.

Some other surprises: Mexican food was sparsely represented, appearing only for San Francisco (super burrito, number three) and breakfast burrito (Los Angeles, number ten).

Cosmopolitan New York City was unaccountably all-American, with variations on burgers, hot dogs, and fries, plus two soda fountain drinks and Shake Shack’s chicken sandwich filling the roster. Our nation’s capital, on the other hand, included the only Persian offering on the list, joojeh (saffron chicken) kabob, but ordered more “craft your own” pizza than anything else.

Chicago upheld its trencherman reputation: Number one on the list wasn’t just french fries, it was LARGE french fries. Chicagoans were also responsible for the only dessert favored by any of the five cities — chocolate cake slice at number eight — and the only condiment, cheese sauce, at number nine. It’s a special treat — and these are the most iconic frozen treats in America.