It doesn’t take a national survey to figure out that pizza is Americans’ favorite comfort food. But Harris Polls conducted one anyway and proved the obvious: 15% of those surveyed listed pizza at No. 1. In fact, pizza got twice as many votes as any other food. So take that, mac and cheese!
According to a survey of 2,252 adults, 15% of Americans chose pizza as their go-to dish. Chocolate and ice cream tied for second place at 7% each, while macaroni and cheese and potato chips came in at 5% and 4% respectively. Pizza topped the list across most demographic groups except for the age 70-plus crowd, who prefer to boost their moods with a scoop of ice cream.
Generally, 53% of Americans say they eat more when they’re stressed, and 67% said they “use their favorite comfort food as a pick-me-up,” according to the Harris Poll website. Other findings include:
Women are more likely to eat comfort food when they’re stressed (54%), while men tend to eat it to top off a really good day.
Ninety percent of Americans still believe that nothing beats a home-cooked meal, and 62% say their favorite comfort food reminds them of their childhoods.
Forty-one percent say they’ll sometimes work out longer or harder to justify eating their favorite comfort food.
Oh, and Americans know there’s no shame in enjoying good food. In fact, 66% said they don’t feel guilty about it all!
Check out the Harris Poll results for yourself here.