When you’re delivering food to the nation’s doorstep you rack up a lot of data and really get to know what people like and even dislike. This is exactly what the Uber Eats FoodCast is, a snapshot of popular food items.

Based on the Uber East search data, the biggest increases in customer search volumes over the last six months include edible flowers and meat substitutes like seitan and heme. 

Also, adding to the list is hemp and manaeesh. 

These ingredients are set to appear on many more restaurant menus across the country in the next year.

Showing the changing palates of vegans and flexitarians, jackfruit, often seen as the vegan alternative to pulled pork which is predicted to fall out of flavour with many as the meat-free offering widens.

In addition, matcha, aloe vera, rolled ice cream are also on the list of items Uber Eats data shows will decline in the coming 12 months. According to the data, coffee will return to being a hot drink, as cold brew also makes the top five list of food and drink items anticipated to be in decline.

Uber Eats General Manager, Ailyssa Pretorius says,” Uber Eats has grown tremendously over the past two years in South Africa, it is great to see how diverse eaters are on the app and more interesting to see that they are moving towards healthier options which breaks the stereotype of food delivery apps.”

To uncover insights around these foodie favourites, Uber Eats analysed more than 191 million searches on the app across Middle East and Africa over the last six months.

For South Africa the top 20 most popular items include

Garlic

Ginger

Coconut

Tofu

Honey

Hummus

Sriracha

Quinoa

Tahini

Vegan

Seaweed

Miso

Pumpkin

Kimchi

Chia

Haloumi

Gluten-free

Dates

Truffle

Pho  

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