Kale and fruit salad are down, traditional holiday foods and drinks are up. This is according to data from Google.
Designer Moritz Stefaner and his team at Truth & Beauty worked with Google News Labs to produce a captivating data visualization project they call The Rhythm of Food, which provides clear data on America’s culinary search history.
Hundreds of food-related infographics track how often users search for certain terms. Each one visualizes 12 years of search queries, most of them originating in the US.
One of the most important things The Rhythm of Food project has substantiated is the idea of seasonality. Terms like Pumpkin Spice Latte spike in the fall, while fruits and vegetables peak depending on their seasons.
The technology news website Wired speculates that this can be a unique tool for viewing culture as a whole. “The data can tell you quite a lot about fashion, immigration, and cultural changes,” says Simon Rogers, data editor at Google News Lab.
