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If you could travel to any city in the world purely for the food, where would you go?

A simple question, but one that cooked up a fair amount of menu indecision, sizzling debate and hunger-induced confusion when we posed it to the community on Lonely Planet’s Facebook page. Roughly half of the responses weren’t cities at all, which we attributed more to foodie passion and Facebook’s tiny font size, than to readers’ poor grasp on basic geographic concepts. ‘Italy’, would have won handily, but, sadly, it’s not a city (unless everyone was intending to vote for the town of Italy, Texas).

When all of the non-cities were removed and the votes were counted, Bangkok emerged victorious, winning the popular vote by a solid margin.

Top 30 food cities based on Facebook community votes (% of total city votes)

For the gotcha-minded technicality spotters, Penang is a Malaysian state (or an island in that state), not a city, but it’s much shorter than saying ‘The Greater Metropolitan Area of Penang aka The Conurbation of Georgetown‘, so we cut voters a little slack.

Some countries created anxiety for voters: the food is so good all across the country, how could anyone possibly be asked to pick a single city? Italy, Malaysia, Thailand, France, India, Mexico, Morocco and Greece all presented a culinary conundrum. Morocco and Greece slipped off the top 30 because of this, but in the end, too much good food certainly isn’t a problem from a hungry traveler’s perspective.

Notably absent in the top 30: Canada, the entire continent of Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Central America and the Caribbean. The Southern Hemisphere got very little foodie love overall, but often-overlooked Lima, a rising star in the world of food, proved its culinary credentials by jumping into the #8 spot. While London did make it into the top 30, no doubt thanks to the vocal British community on Facebook, at least one voter added ‘LOL’, further evidence that one of the most spectacular and worldly food cities on the planet still suffers a bit of a bad reputation.

In the end, these results reflect popular opinion, but they leave out many amazing under-the-radar food destinations, not to mention some large world cities like Shanghai, Kolkata and Los Angeles. What deserving food cities, both large and small, did the popular vote miss?

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Hide 12 comments

1. March 26, 2011 abianco Report this comment

   Aah, food, one of the joys of travel. I love all sorts of food, and I also veer towards some of the more unusual foods, which I’ve written about in 52 Tips for Weird Food and Drinks

2. March 27, 2011 abigailrh Report this comment

   I’m surprised that most of Central America got left out what a bummer. One place in particular that stands out is Belize they have some scrumptious seafood dishes!

3. March 27, 2011 anndrewcastle Report this comment

   Phadthai and Tomyamkung is the favorite food in Thailand. This is the most recommend. In Thailand have many recipe for gourmet food.

4. March 28, 2011 renegadebadger Report this comment

   Surprised Bilbao and San Sebastian didn’t get a mention. San Sebastian in particular always gets a good write-up for food.

5. March 29, 2011 gingertt Report this comment

   Would have loved to see Dublin or another great city/town in Ireland mentioned. Such a great foodie movement on there! I’m here to spread the word! http://www.timetraveltours.com

6. March 29, 2011 coolerth4nu Report this comment

   Bali should be up there for sure! Bangkok and Bali are def. two of the best places for food in Asia, if not the entire world.

7. March 29, 2011 buildship Report this comment

   singapore and KL food are gross, how can they in the list?

8. March 29, 2011 jacgy Report this comment

   It is proud to say that Penang had been selected as top 15 city to go for the food :)

9. March 29, 2011 anahi79 Report this comment

   Lima by far :-P :-P :-P

10. March 30, 2011 andreasdik Report this comment

    Where is Athens? Greek food! The best you can eat!

11. March 31, 2011 omarorange Report this comment

    New York’s famous fare is by far superior in Montreal and Chicago. Tokyo’s got nothing on Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.
    Kudos to those who voted for Lisbon and Taipei.

12. May 8, 2011 prustage Report this comment

    Funny, I wasnt impressed by the food in Bangkok. Of course there are excellent Thai restaurants, some good Chinese but the rest are mainly US style junk food. Surely the main criterion for a foodie should be *variety*. Bangkok doesnt rate very highly in this respect. Top of the list would be London which seems to have excellent examples of food from all over the world.