Fun with Google Trends, the service that tracks search terms (which should roughly correspond to real-world interest). The graph above shows searches for tacos, which you can see is growing nicely every single year since 2005 (when this publication began... coincidence?). What else can we find out about America's interest in the taco lifestyle? Read on...
Carne Asada Vs. Carnitas Vs. Al Pastor
Carne Asada (blue) is still the most searched for meat, but carnitas (red) is gaining fast. Al pastor (brown) is not nearly as popular as the other two, and hasn't been growing at the same rate.
What about the same search terms, but limited to the Los Angeles region only:
Interesting that we see an even greater swing towards 'carne asada' in Los Angeles, especially in the first half of 2013.
Tacos vs. Burgers
Burgers are the all-American food, but the taco lifestyle is more exciting and fun. Burgers (red) had a massive lead early on in the century, but tacos (blue) is closing the gap and was briefly beating burgers earlier this year.
Taco Truck vs. Food Truck
Both of these terms were not very high on the interest level, and were running pretty closely, with Taco Truck (blue) a slight favorite until Sept 2010 when Food Truck (red) surged and never looked back. While Food Truck has its peaks and valleys, it is now far more searched than taco truck.
Cholula vs. Tapatio
Since both are also names of places/people, we are actually comparing "cholula hot sauce" *(blue) to "tapatio hot sauce" (red). We prefer tapatio, but the interest level swings towards Cholula by a fairly significant amount.
"LA TACO"
The #1 search term that brings people to this site is "LA Taco", here's how those searches, limited to just Los Angeles, look over time. It seems we peaked in August of 2012 :/
Fish Vs. Chicken Vs. Steak
Fish Taco (blue) kills the other choices by a huge margin, with chicken taco (red) coming in a distant second. Most of these searches seem to be related to recipes. Interesting to note that fish taco searches seem to spike every July.
Taco Vs. Burrito
C'mon man, you didn't really think burrito (red) had a chance against taco (blue), did you? What are you, from San Francisco or something? Despite the rise of chains like Chipotle and Freebirds, which promote burritos, tacos are on a huge upswing that burrito can't even begin to imagine.
Los Angeles vs. San Francisco
Speaking of which, here's Los Angeles (blue) vs. San Francisco (red). The two have both been less and less searched, but were linked pretty closely until 2009, when Los Angeles started to pull away. With a larger population, that perhaps isn't surprising. More strange would be why both have seemingly peaked 5 years ago.
Street Art vs. Graffiti
When it comes to L.A. Taco, we cover art more than tacos, so let's compare Street Art (blue) with Graffiti (red). Not surprised that Graffiti is more searched, as it's a broader and older term, but it is surprising to see interest in graffiti going down steadily from 2010 onwards.
