What are we cooking during lockdown?

by Pasquale Bruno

The idea of this data visualization comes from the radical shift of content being posted on social networks during the lockdown.

Beside a general increase of live yoga classes and VC birthday parties, I've been intrigued by the variety of meals being cooked (and shared).

I've used Google searches data to understand how cooking habits have changed among Countries.


Overall, interest in cooking recipes in has increased by 58%, compared to pre-lockdown. Each line of the chart shows the strength of interest by recipe, over time.


is the most searched recipe in terms of volumes ( GTI*), followed by (70 GTI*) and (70 GTI*).

Cooking recipes for have been searched compared to pre-lockdown, representing the highest increase across all meals.




Finally, as notable in the chart, weekly seasonality is pretty strong. Sundays and Saturdays are the preferred days to cook, contributing for % of all weekly searches.




Data and methodology
Google Searches data have been used for keywords: foodType + "recipe".
Relative increases have been computed using a 30-day fixed window before and a 30-day window after the lockdown date.

*A Google Trends index (GTI) (0-100) represents the volume of searches performed on Google worldwide for a search term.

Created by Pasquale Bruno.

day,Bread,Cake,Pizza,Cookies,Curry,BananaBread,Pudding,Pasta
1,10,17,4,2,8,1,5,8
2,10,23,4,2,10,2,3,6
3,10,23,5,1,9,1,4,3
4,14,32,8,4,12,2,6,7
5,16,27,4,5,10,4,19,8
6,9,20,4,2,9,3,3,7
7,10,21,3,2,10,2,4,9
8,9,18,3,2,8,2,6,7
9,13,18,3,4,7,1,4,6
10,14,20,5,1,8,2,4,7
11,24,32,8,3,11,3,6,7
12,24,31,6,6,9,5,19,5
13,22,15,3,2,8,2,3,7
14,27,20,4,2,9,3,3,7
15,35,20,4,3,8,5,4,10
16,43,27,5,4,8,5,4,8
17,38,25,9,5,10,7,5,6
18,62,48,13,7,12,9,8,11
19,55,56,9,8,13,11,31,10
20,40,34,6,7,9,8,6,9
21,49,45,9,7,8,13,8,10
22,63,49,9,10,13,13,8,9
23,54,52,12,10,13,15,9,14
24,61,57,16,9,15,16,9,9
25,100,92,25,15,19,22,16,18
26,97,96,13,16,15,25,45,15
27,70,70,14,12,13,19,13,12
28,66,70,13,14,17,21,12,10
29,65,73,15,12,16,20,9,12
30,66,78,18,12,15,19,10,12
31,60,73,20,10,22,19,9,13
32,91,92,27,15,23,26,16,14
33,75,92,17,15,14,26,37,12
34,54,77,15,14,18,21,10,11
35,61,74,15,12,15,20,10,11
36,69,81,16,13,17,22,9,15
37,57,83,18,12,15,19,10,10
38,74,86,25,13,16,26,12,11
39,68,89,24,11,18,21,14,13
40,62,92,14,9,13,18,70,9
41,81,85,16,10,26,34,22,16

day,Pizza,Focaccia,Biscuits,Bread,Pancakes,Croissants,Colomba,Cake,Cream,Tiramisu,Pie,Gnocchi,Meringue
1,2,2,4,2,5,1,0.4,9,3,2,3,2,0.4
2,5,1,3,3,5,0.8,0.8,8,3,2,2,2,1
3,7,1,3,4,10.4,0.8,0.4,10.4,9,4,2,2,1
4,4,1,5,4,10.4,1,0.4,9,6,4,2,3,1
5,2,1,1,3,5,0.4,0.4,6,3,2,3,1,0.4
6,8,1,4,3,12,1,0.4,9,6,2,2,1,1
7,4,2,4,5,6,0.8,0.4,9,4,3,3,1,1
8,7,1,5,3,6,0.8,0.8,12,4,1,2,2,1
9,8,2,4,2,6,1,0.4,12,9,2,3,3,0.8
10,10.4,3,8,5,10.4,1,0.4,20.4,8,5,4,2,1
11,6,3,7,8,14,1,0.8,18,9,5,3,4,1
12,4,2,4,3,8,0.8,0.4,15,4,1,2,2,1
13,4,2,4,4,9,0.8,0.8,9,6,3,3,2,0.8
14,5,4,6,4,9,0.8,0.8,12,5,2,2,2,1
15,3,2,7,5,14,0.8,0.8,14,5,2,3,2,1
16,10.4,1,6,3,12,1,0.4,12,6,2,4,2,0.4
17,16,3,7,6,17,2,1,27,9,6,5,2,1
18,13,3,6,10.4,20.4,1,0.8,19,8,2,4,2,2
19,5,2,9,8,8,0.8,0.8,11,4,2,4,1,0.4
20,11,5,9,14,14,0.8,0.8,18,3,1,5,3,1
21,10.4,5,8,17,17,1,1,21,4,3,5,3,1
22,21,7,16,27,17,4,0.4,22,10.4,6,6,6,1
23,39,6,15,24,24,3,1,28,7,7,8,5,1
24,100,16,23,41,31,7,1,50.4,17,13,13,12,2
25,62,14,19,34,37,6,0.8,47,17,7,10.4,13,1
26,22,10.4,12,29,19,4,1,23,10.4,6,7,4,2
27,23,9,15,33,22,7,1,24,9,5,10.4,5,1
28,30.4,7,11,33,20.4,3,1,32,21,7,9,7,3
29,37,7,14,28,18,4,0.8,36,37,8,12,10.4,5
30,47,10.4,15,33,16,4,1,22,14,7,9,7,2
31,95,20.4,17,41,22,11,2,40.4,15,15,15,13,3
32,55,15,19,57,29,16,1,40.4,17,8,24,20.4,5
33,32,11,15,41,19,15,2,32,10.4,7,9,7,2
34,22,13,13,43,17,9,1,31,11,8,10.4,8,2
35,27,17,15,44,18,11,1,30.4,13,7,10.4,7,2
36,31,16,20.4,55,17,12,3,33,8,7,16,9,3
37,43,18,20.4,44,19,15,3,33,17,8,12,8,2
38,85,24,19,48,25,21,5,50.4,19,16,19,14,2
39,45,18,20.4,45,29,18,4,40.4,27,13,23,18,3
40,19,14,14,33,21,18,4,29,13,8,12,5,2
41,21,14,11,30.4,20.4,12,6,29,12,10.4,11,6,1
42,24,16,16,46,15,17,8,32,15,6,13,5,1
43,27,16,13,41,16,16,7,31,12,5,12,5,0.8
44,42,15,16,35,13,15,7,27,18,9,9,7,1
45,73,14,16,45,21,24,12,50.4,18,20.4,17,13,2
46,44,15,13,39,27,20.4,18,45,22,13,16,13,5
47,25,12,13,28,14,11,14,24,10.4,6,8,5,2
48,21,11,10.4,31,11,8,18,29,14,8,7,7,1
49,26,9,10.4,31,16,7,17,29,12,5,5,6,1
50,28,12,12,36,16,7,23,30.4,13,12,11,6,4

day,Bread,BananaBread,Cake,Cookies,Chili,Pizza,Pasta,Pancake
1,27,8,27,12,13,9,9,12
2,14,5,15,8,7,7,7,4
3,13,4,15,6,6,4,6,4
4,13,4,15,8,6,6,6,3
5,14,4,16,9,7,4,7,4
6,14,3,18,9,6,6,5,4
7,22,7,25,11,9,9,6,11
8,23,9,25,12,11,8,9,8
9,15,5,16,9,7,5,6,4
10,14,4,17,7,7,6,6,2
11,15,4,16,8,6,5,5,4
12,16,4,15,9,7,4,6,4
13,20,5,17,10,8,7,6,5
14,37,9,28,16,11,13,9,14
15,47,14,31,18,13,11,9,12
16,35,9,20,13,9,7,8,5
17,46,11,23,14,10,7,7,7
18,43,12,22,15,10,8,8,8
19,48,12,24,16,9,8,10,7
20,47,11,26,18,10,12,8,9
21,73,24,39,22,14,19,11,16
22,85,24,41,26,15,16,15,22
23,57,18,28,20,11,12,10,6
24,57,22,34,21,9,12,11,8
25,57,25,33,21,10,12,10,9
26,59,25,32,22,9,14,9,8
27,59,27,34,22,9,16,9,8
28,92,40,52,32,14,22,14,19
29,100,45,53,33,14,20,15,21
30,61,29,34,22,10,12,9,8
31,63,27,39,23,9,13,10,9
32,57,26,35,22,9,15,10,9
33,56,24,36,23,10,13,9,8
34,61,26,42,24,8,18,12,10
35,90,39,58,33,14,21,13,21
36,98,38,61,32,14,23,15,20
37,62,23,42,25,9,13,13,7
38,63,24,43,25,8,12,13,7
39,61,25,45,25,8,14,11,10
40,66,25,49,26,9,17,10,11
41,73,26,61,33,9,23,11,12
42,96,38,98,45,9,25,16,19
43,93,35,95,38,9,19,13,23
44,58,21,39,22,9,14,10,8
45,53,24,37,20,10,13,11,7