“As American as apple pie” might be a popular expression, but when it comes to the pie preferences of actual Americans, there’s a lot of variation.
In honor of Pi Day on March 14 (which many have come to associate with the delicious dessert as much as the mathematical constant), the folks at Google shared the most uniquely searched pies in every state in the month leading up to the holiday.
“Once we started looking at the data, we realized there were so many pies we’d never heard of ― vinegar pie! ― and wondered what the variation would look like across states,” Katie Seaton, trends data curator at Google, told HuffPost. “So, for the timely holiday, we thought it would be fun to pull together a map of favorite flavors around the states, so people can see which flavor comes out on top for their state.”
The map includes many classics like apple pie, which dominated in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Wyoming, and lemon meringue pie, which won out in Vermon and North Dakota. But there were also some hyper-local favorites like Derby pie in Kentucky
And while we might primarily associate pie with dessert, the Google map reveals no shortage of love for savory options.
“People love a savory pie!” said Sabrina Elfarra, data storytelling and trends analysis at Google. “We had heard of shepherd’s pie, but spaghetti pie from Minnesota was new to us. Of the sweet pies, Kool Aid pie in Tennessee was a surprise contender. It was fun to see the diversity of taste through this map.”
The Google team also shared some other insights about Americans’ pie-related preferences and inquiries.
For example, the most searched pie recipes in the U.S. overall are for chicken pot pie, shepherd’s pie, apple pie, key lime pie and pecan pie. The top trending pie recipes ― which reflect the queries that jumped significantly in traffic in a short period of time ― are potato pie, oatmeal cream pie, banoffee pie, salmon pie and million dollar pie.
Seaton and Elfarra said they hope people feel encouraged to move outside their comfort zones on Pi Day. And maybe we can all try approximately 3.14 new types of pies.