Combining Instagram hashtag data along with Google search volume, the team at Betway’s online casino have developed this unique scoring system that reveals the most popular national and international food days around the world.

Does your favourite day take the cake?

The World’s Top 20 Food Days 

It turns out that we’re a world of coffee fanatics. National Coffee Day came in hot, scoring 611,414. This national day made a mug out of other foodie favourites such as pie and peanut butter to take our top spot.

Instagram goes a long way towards the day’s success, with this celebration of coffee currently sporting 588,214 posts on its hashtag - the highest of any food day in our study.

Just missing out on the top spot are National Ice Cream Day and National Pizza Day with 376,477 and 304,084 respectively.

The most popular days cover a range of culinary tastes and, though there’s a bias towards fast food favourites like tacos, burgers and hot dogs, it's nice to see a couple of healthy options creeping in, too, with National Watermelon Day and National Avocado Day making the Top 20 list.

Food Days Ranked By Category

So, which day is the top dish in each category?

Slicing out a victory in the fast food category is National Pizza Day with 304,084. When it comes to breakfast, waffles reign supreme with 41,934 of the vote, beating out reliable staples like cereal and oatmeal.

Lobster claws its way to success in the seafood category with 19,120, prime rib takes prime position for meats with 2312 and cheesecake takes out a bite as the world’s favourite cake with 50,498.

UK’s Top Scoring Food Days

Using Google data, we’ve found the Top 10 most searched for food days in the UK and ranked them based on number of searches over time.

Looking at data from 2004 to now, we’ve calculated the interest increase in each day to reveal which ones are becoming more popular year on year.

For the UK? Soup! Homemade soup, to be precise, with an increase of 5,800 per cent in the number of people searching for this national day. Has the rise of all-in-one soup makers rekindled the UK’s love of soup?

Yorkshire Pudding Day, a British classic, comes second with a increase in interest of 3,200 per cent. Of course, National Tea Day makes the Top 10, though some will be surprised that it’s not nearer the top.

USA’s Food Days

Sandwiches and Ice cream are top of the food pyramid for the USA, seeing an increase of 2,700 per cent and 2,400 per cent respectively.

Surprisingly, the favourite fast food snack day in the States isn’t burgers or fries, but onion rings. Since 2004, National Onion Ring day has seen an increase in interest of 1,500 per cent.

And, while some of the days in the Top 10 won’t come as a surprise – we’re looking at you doughnuts and grilled cheese sandwiches - it might shock some to see Eat a Red Apple and Eat a Peach day scoring so highly. Does the increased interest show that the USA is moving towards fruitier food goodness?

Around the World in Food Days

Taking a quick look around the globe, it turns out that Australia is crazy for chocolate, with Nutella Day taking the top spot with 1,300 per cent. World Chocolate Day is also No. 1 in India with +1,271 per cent, while in New Zealand International Falafel Day is No. 1 with +1,700 per cent.

Methodology

Data was taken from Wikipedia’s list of global food days. Days were scored on by adding the values of Instagram posts to UK and US search volumes. These were then ranked to find the most popular day.