Think the Chicago dog or an italian beef is Illinois' go-to food? Not quite, according to data by Chicago-based food analytics company Food Genius.
Food Genius worked with FastCo.Design to create a map of the most "distinctive foods by state," meaning each state's top dish or ingredient found on menus compared to menus in other parts of the U.S. It's not a measure of popularity, but rather how common a food is used in a given state.
Food Genius' database of 88,000 menus and 59 million menu items found that green bell peppers are actually Illinois' most distinctive food. The green bell pepper appears on 46 percent of Illinois menus, compared to just 32 percent nationally. Bell pepper, skirt stake and italian sausage rounded out the top four of common Illinois menu items compared to the national average.
Be sure to check out the interactive graphic to get a better sense of national menu trends. Spoiler: There's a whole lot of ranch dressing.
Map by FastCo.Design's Gus Wezerek with data from Food Genius
