Pizza is the most popular food in the world. Nowadays you can find pizza in almost every corner of the world. This traditional Italian dish is made of round, flattened dough topped with cheese and tomatoes, and also garnished with basil, olives and oregano. Some say the name is due to its resemblance to a bunch of colored rags, but a more captivating story tells that a long time ago, a poor man from Spain who couldn't afford food for his famished family shredded and cooked his own clothes.
Patriotically, the biggest fans of Italian food are Italians themselves, and 99% enjoy their national cuisine. In 2002, the government launched a campaign to popularize the dish worldwide and increase the number of Thai restaurants internationally. According to legend, goi cuon, which literally means salad roll, was invented in the 18th century when soldiers at war needed light and easy to carry food while traveling. An average of 67% of Filipinos who had tried a certain cuisine said they liked it, and only five types of food liked it by less than half.
We asked people which of the 34 national cuisines they had tried and whether they liked them or not, with Italian cuisine being the one they liked the most. Other big fans are the Spanish (94% of those who have tried it say they like it) and the French (92%), while those who least impress Italian food are the Chinese (59%). An international YouGov study of more than 25,000 people in 24 countries reveals that pizza and pasta are among the most popular foods in the world, since Italian cuisine surpasses all others. The second place behind Italian food goes to Chinese cuisine, which obtained an average score of 78% in the countries surveyed.
Stacker compiled a list of exclusive dishes from 50 countries around the world, based on travel stories, news reports, writers and experts in gastronomy, historical stories and global data.
