Desperately seeking comfort food
Canadians were extremely curious about the Unicorn Frappuccino’s caloric damage. The “flavour-changing” blended beverage was the top-trending calorie search for 2017, according to Google’s Year in Search. (The answer is 410 calories per 16 fl oz serving.)
Somewhat surprisingly, the only other fast-food item to make the top ten was the McDouble: a slice of processed cheese between two patties topped with the regular fixings on a bun. The remainder of calorie searches were either alcoholic drinks (beer, vodka soda) or whole foods (banana, salmon, sweet potatoes).
“There’s a sense of fact checking what’s actually in our food,” says Alexandra Hunnings Klein, trends expert for Google Canada. “We saw searches for what’s in the food that we (might) love but probably shouldn’t be eating. And what’s in the food that we consider to be low calorie, like cucumbers, salmon and chicken breast.”
As for recipes, Canadians were looking for comfort foods such as Yorkshire pudding, beef stroganoff, chicken parmesan, meatloaf and scalloped potatoes. Perennially popular guacamole and once-reviled Brussels sprouts also made the list. “The recipes indicate there’s a ‘ basicness’ to how we search for food. A lot of these dishes are comfort food for a certain segment of the population,” Hunnings Klein says. “This is very Euro- Canadian food, generally speaking. As we evolve, I think we’ll start to see more lists that are reflective of the food diversity of Canada.” Google also broke out vegan recipe searches this year and found that many of the top ten are in the same vein as the list of general recipe queries. Mac and cheese, lasagna, pizza, gravy and brownies were among the most sought-after plant-based recipes. Interest in veganism has never been higher, Hunnings Klein says. “Since 2004, which is as far back as we’re able to go when we look at these trends, searches for veganism peaked this summer in Canada,” she adds. “The top provinces and territories searching for veganism were B.C., Yukon, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alberta.” The full top ten lists for recipes, vegan recipes and calorie searches follow. Visit trends.google.ca for more trending topics.