A report was recently released that stated turkey bacon was the most hated food in four U.S. states.
I know. I couldn’t quite figure that out, either. I love bacon of all sorts, especially turkey bacon.
Zippia, a website that analyzes public data sets, somehow deduced that turkey bacon is the most hated food in Rhode Island, Colorado, Wyoming and Alaska. In explaining how that conclusion was reached, it took a list of 40 “controversial foods that make a good chunk of the population go ‘gross.’”
It didn’t say how turkey bacon even made that list of 40, but it did state that certain foods that are primarily regional, were not considered.
Once those 40 “gross” foods were identified, Zippia turned to Google Search Trends to find which of the “hateable” foods each state searched the least. Somehow, Zippia equated a lack of Google searches for recipes and opportunities to buy that food to hatred.
What to make of this survey
While it would be disappointing to the turkey industry to know that turkey bacon even made the top 40 list, I don’t think a lot of sleep should be lost over this.
First off, look at the states.
Wyoming is the least populated state in the U.S., with not much more than one-half million residents. Alaska comes in as the fourth smallest state in terms of population, with roughly 736,000 residents. Rhode Island is the smallest state in terms of size and the eighth least populated state. That only leaves Colorado as a state of significant scale. And you know what they say about its population: most people who live in Colorado aren’t from Colorado.
Populations aside, how truly “hated” is turkey bacon? A quick scan of the internet revealed the only negative perception of turkey bacon in any of those states is that in a blog on the Wyoming radio station KGAB website, Mat Murdock wrote that turkey bacon’s “texture is weird.”
Other foods on the list
Among the foods listed as most hated in at least one state, in addition to turkey bacon, are bologna, anchovies, olives, eggplant, beets, pickles, sushi and well-done steak.
If we were to give credence to this study, we would conclude that the most hated food in the U.S. is olives, based off the number of and the population of the states with which they were associated. The Zippia study identified olives as the most hated food in New York, California, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.
Coming in second would be anchovies. Twelve states apparently hated anchovies the most. Of those, the most populated were Texas, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio. It’s also noteworthy that many states that apparently hate anchovies are landlocked states such as Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Idaho. I am a resident of one of those states, and I can’t say that I hate anchovies. Why buy fish from elsewhere when you can eat catfish or bass that you or someone in your family caught yourself in a farm pond or state lake?
Again, lack of access or awareness doesn’t mean the same thing as hatred.
My advice for anyone who produces turkey bacon: Keep doing what you’re doing and don’t worry too much about this survey. If you want to keep with the research and development of how to make your turkey bacon better, that’s great, but please know that to many of us, your product is already outstanding.
