Two of Florida’s most popular cities are among the best foodie cities in America. WalletHub’s recent study found Miami to be the fifth best foodie city and Orlando to be the sixth.
The term “foodie” can be applied to anyone who loves gourmet dining but isn’t just limited to restaurants. Experts say “authentic foodies” not only crave new and different flavors but also savor the exploratory experience of eating.
With that said a foodie lifestyle could be very expensive since restaurant prices alone have risen in the past year. In 2015 Americans spent more money at food establishments than at grocery stores.
Depending on the cost of living, home eating can still be pricey, but grocery-store prices have declined while restaurants have increased.
WalletHub’s Best Foodie Cities in America was organized to determine the best and cheapest local foodie scenes. For the study, the personal finance website compared more than 180 of the largest cities in the U.S. across 24 key metrics. Data collected ranged from affordability and accessibility of high-quality restaurants to food festivals per capita to craft breweries and wineries per capita.
Miami and Orlando both ranked in the top ten, but other Florida cities were also included in the list. Tampa came in ranked 11th; Fort Lauderdale came in 30th, Jacksonville came in 53rd, St. Petersburg came in 91st, Tallahassee 94th, Pembroke Pines 111th, Cape Coral 114th, and Port St. Lucie 149th.
In a further breakdown, Miami and Orlando tied for first for most restaurants per capita. Cape Coral ranked second in highest ratio of full-service restaurants to fast food establishments.
Orlando also tied for first for most ice cream, and frozen yogurt shops per capita and Miami came in fourth. Miami came in second for most gourmet specialty-food stores per capita.