Deliveroo and Talabat reveal the most popular cuisines ordered through their platforms last year
Food delivery platforms Talabat and Deliveroo have released their findings about eating preferences based on what people ordered last year. Some of these are expected to inform dish choices and trends for the year going forward, while others are likely to get the axe.
Both platforms found that burgers, the ultimate comfort food, were the most ordered items in the UAE last year. The top choices were the Spicy McChicken from McDonald’s, the Five Guys cheese burger and the Shack burger from Shake
Shack. Talabat noted that of the top 20 items ordered while required to stay at home, 10 were from McDonald’s, including chicken McNuggets, and all manner of medium and happy meals.
Paradoxically, people also ordered more vegan and healthy food than ever before. Deliveroo said its orders of plantbased dishes were up 115 per cent compared with 2019, while the number of restaurants offering vegan menus more than doubled in 2020.
The traditional acai bowl from The Acai Spot and the poke bowl from Cali-Poke also made it to the list of most popular dishes.
Chicken was the most ordered meat, with the chicken sando from Pickl coming top among Deliveroo customers, and 14of Talabat’s 20 most-ordered items during the period were chicken-based.
The platform also noted that the Oreo McFlurry was its most ordered dessert, while Aseer Time’s Einstein milkshake was ordered two times more than the runner-up milkshake flavour, the hand-scooped vanilla from Hardee’s.
People were also experimental with what they were eating last year. For instance, Deliveroo found that a whopping 92 per cent of its customers tried a new cuisine, with 44 per cent trying Indian food for the first time, followed by American cuisine (38.8 per cent),
Chinese takeaway (34.6 per cent) and Italian meals (27.4 per cent). For all of that, the most popular pizza toppings were distinctly un-Italian, with Talabat reporting creamy ranch, fiery peri and chipotle barbecue as the top three pizza choices in 2020.
Ordering in aside, the pandemic prompted many to try their hand at cooking. Of the 1,000-plus UAE respondents surveyed by Deliveroo, 43 per cent attempted to make homemade pasta and 31 per cent tried their hand at whipped coffee. Baking proved to be popular pastime, with 28 per cent of the sample group, particularly between the ages of 25 and 34, opting to make banana bread.
Home cooking was a largely close-knit affair, though, with the majority of respondents stating that they celebrated special occasions by ordering food online, making it their most popular “reason to order” for the year.
Another trend that emerged from the Deliveroo survey was a change in people’s eating timings, with roughly a third of respondents reporting they ate
Burgers, the ultimate comfort food, were the most ordered items in the UAE last year
breakfast earlier in 2020, but dinner and lunch later than usual. This is one trend that’s slated to change, though, as more people express a desire to eat all meals earlier this year, in a bid to be more disciplined and health-conscious.
Anis Harb, general manager of Deliveroo GCC, says: “Food trends in 2020 were reflective of the nature of the year itself. However, 2021 shows a clear preference from UAE residents for a more ethical dining lifestyle.” Accordingly, the platform is declaring clean eating as the biggest food trend of 2021, based on the following statistics gleaned from its survey:
45 per cent of the 1,000+ UAE residents surveyed will aim to cut down on food waste.
43 per cent believe sustainable foods will be ever more important.
29 per cent expect the demand for vegan food to grow.
28 per cent say they will continue support local produce.
36 per cent are in favour of seasonal vegetables and menus.