You'll be surprised to see the most popular type of food in NJ

New Jersey has large pockets of ethnic enclaves throughout the state. Most of them can be found in the central and northeastern parts of our state.

Along with that fact, you will no doubt find cuisine that would cater to those communities. When you think of New Jersey in the twenty-first century you think of Indian, Italian, Asian, African, and Island cuisine.

You'd also think seafood since we're right along the coast.

Canva

But the most popular cuisine compared to other states' most popular foods might surprise you. Huffington Post and Yelp got together a few years ago and found the most disproportionately popular foods in each state in the country.

They found the most popular foods compared to the other 49 states.

In New Jersey the most disproportionately most popular food is.....Portuguese!

Canva

This type of food's popularity is 882% higher than other places in the nation. You might be wondering why that is. Well, all along the northeastern edge of New Jersey you will find a plethora of Portuguese restaurants.

From Long Branch to Clifton and points in between like South River, Newark, Elizabeth, Belleville and Kearny all feature popular Portuguese cuisine.

The other foods that are disproportionately more popular than other states are Spanish which is 266% higher.

Kosher food is 218% higher, Peruvian food comes in at 211% higher than the national average and delis popularity is 156% higher than the national average.

Topping the list for our neighbors in New York, it's Kosher and for Pennsylvania it's cheesesteaks.

LOOK: 20 American foods that raise eyebrows outside of the US

Stacker compiled a list of 20 unusual and uniquely American foods that might raise eyebrows outside the U.S.

Gallery Credit: Charlotte Barnett

LOOK: Food history from the year you were born

From product innovations to major recalls, Stacker researched what happened in food history every year since 1921, according to news and government sources.

Gallery Credit: Joni Sweet

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

You can now listen to Dennis & Judi — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite best friends anytime, anywhere and any day of the week. Download the Dennis & Judi show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom