Chinese cuisine, which has been popular in the United States for decades, remains one of the “Big Three” ethnic cuisines in the country, and the one for which diners rely most on restaurants to provide, according to a recent survey by the National Restaurant Association.
The NRA surveyed 1,000 adults and found that more than one third of them, 36 percent, ate Chinese food at least once a month, and another 42 percent said they eat it a few times a year.
Although that’s less than the percentage of respondents who said they frequently eat Italian and Mexican cuisines, the other two of the Big Three, respondents said they rely more on restaurants to provide their Chinese food, whereas many of them prepared Mexican and Italian food at home.
Chinese food is much more popular among respondents ages 54 and younger than older consumers. Around 40 percent of the younger group said they ate Chinese food at least once a month, compared with 32 percent of those ages 55 to 64, and 23 percent of those 65 and older.
Many respondents to the survey, 43 percent, said the ethnic foods they like to eat are tied to their family’s “ancestry or heritage.” More respondents from the Northeast and South, 43 percent and 39 percent, respectively, said they were frequent eaters of Chinese food, compared with 37 percent of Westerners and 25 percent of Midwesterners.
Takeout and delivery are the most popular ways to eat Chinese food. Fifty-six percent of respondents who said they ate Chinese food at least a few times a year said they get takeout or delivery. By comparison, 53 percent said they eat Chinese food in restaurants, and just 20 percent said they cook it at home.
As with Italian and Mexican food, families with children in the household are more likely to eat Chinese food than families without kids.
Among “frequent ethnic cuisine eaters,” which the NRA defines as people who eat four different ethnic cuisines each month, younger adults, ages 18-34, actually eat a bit less Chinese food than their elders: 66 percent of younger ethnic cuisine enthusiasts eat Chinese food at least once a month, compared with 69 percent for all adults. Among self-described “adventurous diners,” 43 percent said they ate Chinese food at least a month, but even among “stay-in-lane diners,” who are disinclined to try foods with which they’re unfamiliar, 24 percent still are monthly eaters of Chinese food.
The NRA didn’t define Chinese food for the people they surveyed, but just 8 percent of respondents said they weren’t familiar with it, compared with 7 percent for Mexican and 5 percent for Italian, but it listed as examples fried rice, sweet and sour, moo shu pork and wontons.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
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