Washington, D.C. isn’t just the center of American politics — it may also be the country’s capital of culinary courage.
Across the District, curious diners appear eager to explore foods that would make plenty of people pause, from balut, the Filipino duck-egg delicacy containing a nearly formed embryo, to casu martzu, Sardinia’s pungent sheep’s milk cheese known for its live fly larvae. Also on the radar is surströmming, Sweden’s famously intense fermented herring, whose odor is so powerful it has reportedly been barred by some airlines.
And those eyebrow-raising dishes are only the beginning.
A new HelloFresh survey ranking the most adventurous eaters in America suggests that some cities are far more likely than others to embrace unusual foods, exotic dishes and bold global flavors rather than stick with familiar comfort fare.
To build the ranking, the meal kit delivery company analyzed Google search interest, using online curiosity as a window into which unusual meals people are researching — and potentially brave enough to taste.
Washington, D.C. topped the list by a wide margin, averaging 14,370 searches per 100,000 residents. Local food explorers were especially interested in Korean kimchi as well as khash, an Armenian soup made with gelatinous beef feet and tripe.
Japanese natto also drew attention, thanks to its sticky, stringy fermented soybeans that pull apart in long strands — even if the aroma is famously not for everyone.
Hawaii landed in second place with 8,447 searches per 100,000 people, with residents looking up bold bites such as savory beef tongue and rich, creamy sea urchin.
Not far behind came Washington State with an average 7,305 searches per 100,000 people. Foodies from the Evergreen State are big fans of the super-spicy Vietnamese broth pho and Korean BBQ, according to the survey.
Closing out the top four is California, where discerning eaters seem more than happy to swap the familiar for every international cuisine imaginable with 7,053 searches per 100,000 people.
Nevada with 6,915 searches per 100,000 people came in fifth, while Colorado with 6,207 and New York with 6,025 searches per 100,000 people took sixth and seventh place.
Big Apple searches included Scottish haggis — a savory pudding of sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs with onions and spices –and any form of octopus and egusi soup, a West African concoction of seafood, snails and cow skin.
Oregon had 5,972, folks willing to take a chance on something new. They came in eighth.
Massachusetts, with a score of 5,678, and Virginia, with 5,539 searches per 100,000 people, rounded out the nation’s Top 10.
At the opposite end of the table sits West Virginia, which ranked as America’s least adventurous state when it comes to trying unusual foods with a mere 1,790 people searching for exotic foods.
It’s joined near the bottom by Mississippi (1,842) South Dakota (2,330), North Dakota (2,402) and Kentucky (2,407), with folks there more inclined to go for comfort food like mac and cheese or fried chicken rather than take a chance on kooky culinary daredevilry.
But food enthusiasts are undaunted by their boring brethren.
“What’s exciting about these findings isn’t just where people are searching, it’s what they’re searching for. Pho, Korean BBQ and fermented dishes aren’t novelty dishes anymore,” Michelle Doll Olson, Head Chef & Senior Culinary Development Manager at HelloFresh US told The Post.
“They represent a genuine shift in how Americans think about cooking.”
Of course, there’s no shame in sticking with the classics.
