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    Mapping Dominante Küche in 3.143 US -Landkreisen (2025 Revision; Daten & Methoden in Kommentaren) [OC]
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    Mapping Dominante Küche in 3.143 US -Landkreisen (2025 Revision; Daten & Methoden in Kommentaren) [OC]

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    1. piri_reis_ on

      **Scope.** One cuisine per county (3,143 incl. LA parishes + AK boroughs) to represent *cultural gravity,* so the tradition with the strongest local footing.
      **Primary criteria.** Historical roots (settlement patterns, migration), dominant local practice, enduring dishes/techniques.
      **Tie-breakers.** Restaurant/share signals, festivals/markets, community institutions, archival/regional cookbooks, extension publications, and direct community feedback from the last viral release.
      **Granularity.** County level preserves local identity vs. state averages; border counties often blur.
      **Process.** Draft map → community critique → targeted research → county-level adjustments → 2025 revision.
      **Caveats.** Not an absolute ranking; urban counties can host multiple strong cuisines; some enclaves are simplified to keep the map legible.
      **Render.** Designed for print legibility; current export 7200×5400 px.

    2. piri_reis_ on

      What’s new vs the prior version:
      Clearer **Gullah/Lowcountry** coastal footprint
      Elevated **Detroit’s Middle Eastern** imprint in the urban section

      Cleaner split between **Great Lakes Slavic** and **Nordic American** zones
      **North Carolina BBQ** handled with regional notes instead of one blanket call
      Tweaks along several **border counties** where cuisines blur
      Palette & label density tuned for **18×24 / 24×36** print readability

    3. piri_reis_ on

      **Design.** Related cuisines grouped into color families for scanability; county granularity; labels tuned for viewing distance; simplified coastlines/independent cities only where needed for legibility.
      **Edge cases.** Multi-ethnic metros; tourism-heavy counties; Alaska’s sparse boroughs; Virginia’s independent cities; water-dominant counties.
      **Interpretation.** Treat this as a cultural *map of practice*, not strict origin. Local exceptions absolutely exist, so I’m happy to discuss specific counties in the thread if you’re from somewhere you feel isn’t accurately represented.

    4. josephus12 on

      r/dataisinfuriating. The whole image is too small to read, but don’t worry, there are four more images zoomed in where the text doesn’t necessarily correspond to the quadrant of the map you’re looking at.

    5. No_Inspector7319 on

      As an okie who loves bbq I wouldn’t say we have a style moreso just worse KC bbq

    6. foulpudding on

      Uh… Wisconsin is basically a giant cheese curd. Don’t know how that isn’t listed more north as an ingredient.

    8. Trumbulhockeyguy on

      Fairfield County CT needs to be Orange. I cant understand how its listed as portugese as opposed to Italian American. New Haven Pizza would be the most famous export.

    9. wiiatt on

      When you’re driving cross country and the Waffle Houses become Runzas, welcome to no man’s land

    10. pgm123 on

      I have nits, but that’s bound to happen when you have one cuisine per county. Some differences aren’t so great and some probably aren’t as dominant in those counties as the map implies. Nevertheless, I’m impressed by the scale.

    11. TrynnaFindaBalance on

      This looks cool but it seems basically impossible to define geographic divisions here. People in Minneapolis primarily eat lingonberries and pickled herring? There are 7 different variations of Latino and Mexican-influenced cuisine, but none of them exist in Chicago, the city with the second-largest Mexican-American population in the US? There’s tons of different ethnic categories, but shawarma and falafel are just „Detroit food“?

      Again, cool idea, but IMO a map isn’t the best medium for conveying this information.

    13. chunkykid53 on

      Good work. Will be saving this for my travels.
      Thank you!

      I think this is a good resource, so looking forward to any refinements!

    14. marigolds6 on

      One minor compliant I have is that it is difficult to identify the correct cuisine for one-off counties, e.g. Warren County, IA or Alexander and Pulaski counties, IL. It might be helpful to include the general areas of the cuisines *and* the locations of one-off clusters. As an example, for 17 – Five Tribes, a line saying „Dominant in eastern Oklahoma and Caddo County, OK.“

      The drawback is that this could get quite extensive for a few cuisines like 24 – German-American. So for 24, you might just list which states in occurs in while making sure that similar color 51 – Eastern Carolina BBQ has a line like „Dominant only in eastern North Carolina.“

      Would really a way to see extended notes on determinations. (I’m particularly curious how metro east St Louis didn’t fall under the St Louis BBQ footprint. Living in one of those counties, St Louis BBQ is more influential than German-American at this point.)

      I really like your label placement as well as the label shading/borders to indicate similar cuisines! I’m not sure if the actual county colors are supposed to have meaning beyond differentiating, but given the sheer number of cuisines, just the differentiating problem alone is difficult.

    15. grubnenah on

      I live in #22 and only a handful of people I know have even tried lutefisk, calling it a key dish is laughable. It might be a part of sweedish heretage the area is familiar with, but it’s irrelevant. 

      If you want to get a glimpse of what’s actually being eaten in rural areas, getting your hands on church cookbooks will give you better results.

    16. r_hythlodaeus on

      The stark differences between bordering rural counties are completely unrealistic. For example, there is no actual difference between the cuisines of Klamath County OR, Lake County OR, Modoc County CA, and Siskiyou County CA (nor would there have been any differences historically aside from Klamath Falls having somewhat more variety compared to the surrounding areas), yet there are three different labeled cuisines.

    17. bduxbellorum on

      New Mexican Cuisine not including a breakfast burrito is a critical failure that calls into question its whole credibility.

    18. Jets237 on

      Live in a 26 area wife grew up in 4 and I grew up in a mix of 20 & 58

      All very accurate and our normal cooking is a blend of all of these. (Including the NYC melting pot, trying different things constantly)

    19. thejengamaster on

      How close was Sonoma county to category 33? Or was it category 1 all the way?

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