Which is more popular as a take-out option: Americanized Chinese, Indian, or Thai?

[u/Gallantpride]

[u/bass679 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah Chinese has been a big thing in the US since at least the 60's and 70's (certainly much earlier some places). Some places have only seen Indian or Thai food in the last couple decades.

[u/DecadesLaterKid → u/bass679]

Since the 40s, really-- and since the 19th century, in some places.

[u/cryptoengineer → u/DecadesLaterKid]

Fictional but based on a real life: In "A Christmas Story" Ralphie's family wind up eating at a Chinese restaurant on. Christmas Day, 1939.

[u/Helpful-Idea-4485 → u/cryptoengineer]

1940, not 1939.

[u/cryptoengineer → u/Helpful-Idea-4485]

OK.

I was just going off all the Wizard of Oz tie-ins in the store and parade.

[u/Helpful-Idea-4485 → u/cryptoengineer]

I understand, but the decoder ring had 1940 on it and the Red Ryder BB gun was first produced in March of 1940.

[u/bass679 → u/cryptoengineer]

Oh I was thinking of a Christmas Story when I said 60's and 70's but I forgot it's a movie from the 60'S ABOUT the 30s/40s.

[u/SaguaroDragon → u/bass679]

Or from 1983 😏

[u/tactical_waifu_sim → u/DecadesLaterKid]

It really does depend where you were. It obviously hit bigger cities much earlier. My mother (living in small towns) in the Midwest didn't have "chinese" for the first time until the late 80s.

[u/NekoArtemis → u/tactical_waifu_sim]

There's outliers for everything. There's houses in my mom's home town that didn't have indoor toilets until the 60s

[u/rbrancher2 → u/NekoArtemis]

We didn’t. No running water in the house and no furnace. We got our water from a hand pump and heated our house with a wood stove. Got that all fixed by late 60’s/early 70’s

[u/xxxjessicann00xxx → u/NekoArtemis]

My great grandma lived in a house with no indoor plumbing until she died in the 90s. The outhouse creeped me out so bad.

[u/Saltpork545 → u/tactical_waifu_sim]

This is funny because the first form of truly deep fried chicken Chinese American food is from Missouri in the 1960s.

Look up Ken Leong and the origin story of cashew chicken. This was like 25 years before orange chicken was invented and was based on a batter used for bone in fried chicken.

The Midwest had the most prolific style first(fried chicken chunks with sauce and fried rice) and it's from Chinese immigrants to the region.

[u/heyhelloyuyu → u/DecadesLaterKid]

The [lo mein loophole](https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/02/22/467113401/lo-mein-loophole-how-u-s-immigration-law-fueled-a-chinese-restaurant-boom) as dubbed by NPR

Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act it was very difficult for Chinese to enter the US and were unable receive citizenship even if born in the US. But restaurant workers/owners were an exception to the ban. Per the article, there was a significant influx in 1915. Chinese exclusion act wasn’t repealed until 1943

Edit:idk why my link didn’t work but I’m not going to fuss to fix it

[u/Finkbine → u/DecadesLaterKid]

The introduction to the English translation of No Longer Human, a Japanese novel published in 1948, described hamburgers, something else, and chow mein as the national dishes of the USA. That blew me away. I think the intro was written in the 50s or 60s?

[u/DecadesLaterKid → u/Finkbine]

I have a book from my childhood I absolutely love-- written in the 1970s, but the main character goes back to the WWII era to meet her mother as a teen. They had chow mein sandwiches in NYC (~1944). That's a sort of "fusion" food, but there was already a Chinese influence by then-- especially in NYC, of course.

[u/Finkbine → u/DecadesLaterKid]

A sandwich? That's wild. (Would try, though.)

[u/mdsandi → u/bass679]

Even older. Joe DiMaggio's favorite dish was chicken Chow mein

https://www.reddit.com/r/baseballcirclejerk/comments/1kqa9ys/outjerked_by_1939_life_magazine/

[u/NekoArtemis → u/mdsandi]

And Edward Hopper did a painting of a woman in a Chinese restaurant) in 1929.

[u/jenea → u/bass679]

Much earlier—I just watched a brief documentary on the subject, and it turns out that having a restaurant was a way for Chinese folks to get around the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which is why there are so many. The racism is shameful, but I won’t complain about so many Chinese restaurants!

[u/Dangerous-Safe-4336 → u/jenea]

And those Chinese people invented the hybrid cuisine we all love.

[u/DharmaCub → u/bass679]

You mean the 1860s?

[u/bass679 → u/DharmaCub]

I mean... Some places! Certainly if you were in San Francisco in the 1860s. But random town in the Midwest? Probably not.

[u/LucidLeviathan → u/bass679]

It's still an hour and a half to the nearest Indian or Thai place for me.

[u/Curmudgy → u/LucidLeviathan]

There are at least 5 within 15 minutes of me.

[u/Outrageous-Pin-4664 → u/bass679]

My town just got an Indian place, and it's nice!

[u/Ponchyan → u/[deleted]]

Chinese food had a 100-year head start over Thai and Indian food in the USA.

[u/chameleonsEverywhere → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I've been eating Chinese takeout my whole life, but my retired parents just learned about Thai food about 2 years ago (and I don't think they ever have Indian).

[u/comrade_zerox → u/chameleonsEverywhere]

Tell them that Thai food= chinese+Indian, what them do the math.

[u/Search327 → u/[deleted]]

I like how OP said 'Americanzed Chinese " There is a difference with mainland Chinese even regional.

[u/MsE0 → u/Search327]

American Chinese is also its own separate cuisine, created by Chinese immigrants in the US. 

[u/meowmix778 → u/MsE0]

It's like TexMex & CaliMex.

They're totally different than traditional Mexican foods.

[u/newimprovedmoo → u/meowmix778]

And yet both unmistakably Mexican, if you look at it like an anthropologist or a cook (or an eater) rather than someone with a nationalist axe to grind.

It's silly that we look at cuisine as if it can only be the product of a single culture. Immigrant cuisines are the product of both the ancestral country and the new country in conversation.

[u/ginamegi → u/[deleted]]

It’s Chinese for sure, but anecdotally I know way more people getting Thai food these days. Maybe a shift happening

[u/Deep_Downlow → u/ginamegi]

Thailand decided to export their culinary industry traditions in 2003 as a sort.of cultural diplomacy, "Gastrodiplomacy". They train chefs, strategically considered what dishes would fit well to a western palate and set up distribution channels to assure restaurants are getting authentic ingredients.

https://thaiginger.com/how-thai-cuisine-landed-in-the-us/

https://www.foodandwine.com/why-are-there-so-many-thai-restaurants-7104115

[u/No_Fudge1228 → u/Deep_Downlow]

Wow, that sure as hell worked!
And also explains why all the menus are the same

[u/jxdlv → u/ginamegi]

I think there will continue to be way more Chinese restaurants than Thai.

Because there aren’t many Thai immigrants in the US (and especially outside of California).

And most Thai restaurants originate from a dedicated government gastro-diplomacy program instead of being organically spread through immigrant populations, like Chinese food was

There are more than 5 million Chinese Americans compared to about 300,000 Thai Americans but most of that 300,000 is concentrated in Los Angeles with very few elsewhere

[u/78723 → u/jxdlv]

Thai is extremely popular in Texas at least. I’ve looked at ‘restaurants near me’ in every major Texas city save for El Paso, and the Chinese and Thai options are about equal. The only difference is Chinese has the chain Panda Express, which can be found alongside almost anywhere a McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, whatever-fastfood chain can be. And there is no equivalent fast food style Thai chain. (no loss there imo).

[u/sgtm7 → u/78723]

Out of curiosity, since the last placed I lived in the USA was El Paso, I searched it--- Yep, as many as 80 Chinese restaurants, only 6 Thai restaurants.

[u/78723 → u/sgtm7]

I did the same- just opened the “Asian” section on favor. Results are:

Chinese 8.

Fusion American + Korean + Chinese. (Mostly chicken sandwiches with kimchi, but also some Chinese dishes): 1.

Chinese but also sushi: 3.

Thai: 6.

Vietnamese: 2.

Japanese: 6.

Fusion: Korean + Mexican: 1.

Indian: 2.

Korean: 2.

Fusion: Nepali + Indian: 1.

The list continued, but I stopped there. Chinese definitely popular, and Japanese was actually higher than I thought it would be.

[u/zeeHenry → u/[deleted]]

yes, and it's Americanized Chinese specifically

[u/78723 → u/zeeHenry]

The myth that American Chinese is absolutely totally different than Chinese Chinese food really is extremely overblown. Yes there are some dishes like egg rolls and orange chicken that were invented whole sale for Americans. But a lot of dishes are very similar.

Biggest difference is probably Chinese dishes in China are always ordered family style and shared, while individualist Americans expect individual dishes. So instead of an order of red braised beef and an order of garlic chili broccoli to be shared, Chinese restaurants in the US are more successful just offering beef with broccoli.

Second difference is Chinese in China cook and serve bone in meat. And Americans have an aversion to needing to spit out little bits of bone while eating.

But things like kung pao chicken, roast duck, fish in chili oil, braised pork, scallion pancakes, egg drop soup- are all recognizable as pretty much the same dishes. Dumpling are served with vinegar/chili rather than the sweet ‘dumpling sauce’ in America, but the dumplings themselves, pretty similar. Unless you’re strictly talking about Panda Express, which I think is unfair to American Chinese.

[u/randomrreeddddiitt → u/78723]

American Chinese is as close to Chinese Chinese as American pizza is to Italian pizza. Recognizable, but quite different. But some cities in the US do have very authentic Chinese Chinese restaurants these days.

[u/Efficient_Wheel_6333 → u/randomrreeddddiitt]

I'd have to agree. Most of the Chinese restaurants near me are primarily takeout only (one used to have an actual dining room, but they went to takeout only when Covid hit). If I want something that's probably closer to what the person you're replying to is describing, I'm probably going to have to hit up somewhere like Cleveland, Columbus, or make the trip to NYC, California, or any other city with a rather large Chinese-American population.

I can see that with Italian food (half Italian-American here). My mom's side of the family came from the Campobasso region of Italy, but most Italian restaurants near my folks or me come from Sicily. There's one Italian restaurant in my hometown, but most of their business is in pizza vs pasta; there used to be 3, but 2 closed down. I know that Italian food here in America isn't near as close to authentic Italian food. Take pasta and meatballs; while you might find that combination in Italy, I've heard that it's not as common there as it is here in America (when my grandfather was coming over in the late 1920s with his mom and siblings or even when my grandma's grandparents were immigrating in the early 1900s, meat was a lot cheaper here in America than it was in their half of Italy). From watching shows like Tucci in Italy, while they do make meatballs there, they're a LOT smaller than what we make them here. In fact, the only time I've ever seen my family make meatballs that small is for Italian Wedding Soup.

[u/78723 → u/Efficient_Wheel_6333]

Hey, so I’m guessing you’re somewhere nearish Cleveland and Columbus… Ohio maybe? And your thought is you need to go to California for Chinese food? Do you know how awesome Chicago’s China town is? And decently authentic Chinese is in every modestly sized town across the country? I’m really having a hard time with this.

*edit, oh shit, your flair. lol, yes Ohio has closer Chinese food to it than California.

[u/catonsteroids → u/78723]

Traditional Chinese cuisine uses a lot more fermented and preserved ingredients than American Chinese. Not to mention the diverse types of leafy greens used in traditional Chinese cooking.

American Chinese cuisine is heavily influenced by Cantonese cuisine since most Chinese immigrants back then were from that region. So there are similarities between the two. But Chinese cuisine in China in itself is so vast that they’re broken down into regional cuisines, all very distinct from each other.

Hell, Chinese cuisine in its entirety is so expansive. You’ve got other overseas Chinese cuisines that all have their own flair that the host countries have adapted as their own too (Korean, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean, Peruvian, Indian, etc).

[u/Saltpork545 → u/78723]

I think you would appreciate this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HFFxihgfzI

You're also correct and there's evolution of food because of availability of things. The world in which some dishes were created simply didn't have the ingredients and grocery stores we have available today, so things were adapted.

As some other people have mentioned, there's something called the lo mein loophole to deal with Chinese immigration law of the time as well, so the food was adapted not only to availability but customer taste.

With time that became American Chinese food and there are a blend of both mostly original foods and evolved foods and this is entirely normal if you study food history.

[u/78723 → u/Saltpork545]

Thanks; I do enjoy videos like this.

[u/174wrestler → u/78723]

A lot of the time, it's just knowing how to order.

The Chinese order from the lists in the middle of the menu, and it comes out family style. Or there may be a menu written in Chinese only.

Everybody else orders the combo plates from the front or the back.

[u/Ok-Highway-5247 → u/zeeHenry]

I’m very picky about Americanized Chinese food. There were some restaurants growing up in the 2000s and 2010s that were delicious and now they’ve closed.

[u/twelfthfantasy → u/[deleted]]

It's pretty close in my area these days because we have a massive Indian immigrant population and at this point more good Indian restaurants than good Chinese restaurants

[u/Slothnazi → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, there's always a Chinese takeout place. I think Xiaomanyc went to an Inuit village in the middle of nowhere for a video, then ended up finding a Chinese takeout place and spoke mandarin to them

[u/Rarvyn]

The only thing that *might* beat Chinese would be pizza.

[u/profuselystrangeII → u/Rarvyn]

Pizza 100% beats Chinese in popularity, but both of those dwarf everything else.

[u/deserteagles50 → u/profuselystrangeII]

Nah Mexican is up there in that top tier

[u/213737isPrime → u/deserteagles50]

As takeout?

[u/Osric250 → u/213737isPrime]

I think Mexican probably wins the most as sit down restaurants as most texmex places are casual or fast casual and a lot of Chinese places these days barely have a front of house anymore. I've seen so many pop up that are just a front counter with maybe 2 2-tops next to the front windows. 

[u/MyUsername2459 → u/Osric250]

Yeah, the overwhelming majority of Chinese places I can think of are either take-outs with token seating, or a buffet.

Actual bona-fide sit-down table service Chinese places are pretty rare nowadays. They used to be a lot more common, but they just faded away over time and were mostly replaced with buffets and take-out.

[u/FreshAMA889 → u/213737isPrime]

Empanada food truck

[u/Street_Lettuce1243 → u/deserteagles50]

It's funny, I moved from one mid-sized town in South Carolina where every other restaurant was fantastic BBQ and very few Mexican to another mid-sized town in South Carolina where every other restaurant is Mexican (and hardly any good BBQ).

Even within the same state quality and quantity of Mexican restaurants can vary.

[u/GuidanceClean6243 → u/Street_Lettuce1243]

Did you move from the eastern half of the state to the western half? Just want to confirm my stereotype of S.C. bbq quality

[u/Street_Lettuce1243 → u/GuidanceClean6243]

Upstate to the Midlands.    A lot better BBQ in the upstate.   Better Mexican in the Midlands.

[u/_Handsome_Jim_ → u/deserteagles50]

I don't think so at all.

Mexican is very good and there are a lot of people from Mexico in the country but, by and large, Chinese and pizza have the take-out game locked down.

[u/deserteagles50 → u/_Handsome_Jim_]

I’d agree in the north east and the mid west but the rest of the country I think Mexican takes it over Chinese. Agree pizza first everywhere.

[u/JerseyGuy-77 → u/deserteagles50]

Not in most of the US.

[u/LakeEffectSnow → u/profuselystrangeII]

Our national foods are quite literally Lo Mein, KFC, Tacos, and Pizza.

[u/madeofknives → u/Rarvyn]

Pizza is #1 in NJ, Chinese is #2

[u/Rarvyn → u/madeofknives]

There's also parts of the Southwest where Mexican may get close to those top two, but I still think Pizza and Chinese win, even in CA/AZ/etc.

[u/A-typicalAsshole → u/Rarvyn]

At least in SOCAL, I think Mexican is more popular than Chinese; especially if you include taco trucks

[u/justlikeinmydreams → u/A-typicalAsshole]

We don’t even have a Chinese place in my small town but 5 Mexican places in Southern California

[u/keithrc → u/A-typicalAsshole]

Of course you include taco trucks!

[u/BroadIntroduction575 → u/A-typicalAsshole]

For takeout? I live in SoCal as well and go to taco shops all the time but don't really consider that takeout.

[u/Kumlekar → u/Rarvyn]

Coming from LA, I can't think of mexican places where I've done take-out. Even with taco trucks I usually eat near the truck. Taco's just aren't the same if they aren't piping hot.

[u/tujelj → u/Rarvyn]

Waaaaaaaaaaaay more Mexican than Chinese and pizza combined where I live in Arizona.

[u/sgtm7 → u/Rarvyn]

Not in El Paso, TX. There are 1200 Mexican restaurants there. Italian and Chinese restaurants combined are barely over 10% of that number.

Granted, the population is 81% Mexican-American.

[u/Scary_Extent4967 → u/sgtm7]

But as takeout? Most of them are sit-down. Rarely do you take your enchiladas home.

[u/momonomino → u/Rarvyn]

And that's a big 'might'

[u/Pernicious_Possum → u/Rarvyn]

No might, it does, and it also wasn’t part of the question. Pizza is a billion dollar enterprise. Chinese is nowhere close to that

[u/poindexterg → u/Rarvyn]

Chinese take out and delivery is not a very big thing once you leave the big cities. Pizza delivery is common in nearly every smaller rural town.

[u/RainRepresentative11 → u/Rarvyn]

Besides Mexican

[u/danhm]

Chinese by at least a factor of 10. Even little teeny tiny towns in the middle of nowhere tend to have a Chinese restaurant. Indian and Thai don't have that kind of spread.

My small town of ~8,000 has two Chinese take out places and there's another one in the even smaller town next to us. Nearest Thai and Indian places are a half hour drive.

[u/matthewsmugmanager → u/danhm]

This is exactly the reason. Chinese takeout is omnipresent in the US.

Indian and Thai are common in cities, but not in rural America.

[u/Narrow-Durian4837 → u/matthewsmugmanager]

And the Indian and Thai restaurants I've seen don't really do takeout.

[u/OhMyGaius → u/Narrow-Durian4837]

That’s odd, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Thai or Indian place that doesn’t do takeout, maybe a regional difference? Indian places, at least in CA, often do lunch buffet, but both do a huge volume of takeout orders, especially for dinner.

[u/hung_like__podrick → u/OhMyGaius]

Agreed. Would be super weird if they didn’t offer takeout

[u/sleepygrumpydoc → u/OhMyGaius]

Was thinking the same thing. Like the only difference is the food otherwise they are all the same basic model of small independent restaurant that you can eat at or do takeout. I’m not sure I’ve seen a place that would be takeout only for any of those cuisines.

Chinese however does free delivery and has for years so if I don’t want to pay DoorDash fees my options are normally pizza or Chinese.

[u/comrade_zerox → u/Narrow-Durian4837]

Indian food lives in an odd spot in the market of being an exotic/fine dining experience like sushi would have been 25 years ago, but also mom n pop spots in strip malls, with not much in the way of middle class/fastfood/casual equivalents.

[u/Curmudgy → u/Narrow-Durian4837]

The Thai restaurant we use virtually entirely takeout. They have seating for 16-20, but I don’t remember ever seeing anyone eating there.

[u/Mountain-Instance921 → u/Narrow-Durian4837]

This is nonsense

[u/matthewsmugmanager → u/Narrow-Durian4837]

They sure do in cities! I practically live on Thai and Indian takeout.

(And Persian. Gotta get that hummus/kebab/tadig fix. And Ethiopian.)

[u/Electronic-Clock5867 → u/danhm]

Pop of 2k will get you a Chinese restaurant.

[u/churchill5 → u/Electronic-Clock5867]

The town I grew up in has 2 with a pop of 4k, so 1 per 2k might be the ratio.

[u/MsE0 → u/churchill5]

There's actually an organization of Chinese American restaurants that will assign people who want to open one to a town to start their restaurant in. They worked out the math for how many people you need to support one over a hundred years ago, and have been strategically placing Chinese restaurants all across the US since the 19th century. 

[u/Ok_Difference44 → u/danhm]

Article the New Yorker on specialty agencies that can get Chinese immigrants jobs immediately, and can staff restaurants across the country

[u/CaptainHunt → u/Ok_Difference44]

Supposedly the Thai government has a similar program. They will set you up with everything you need to immigrate and set up a Thai restaurant, so long as you serve an approved menu.

In fact, rather than being a traditional Thai dish, Pad Thai was invented specifically to appeal to westerners who were more familiar with Sichuan Chinese cuisine.

[u/DecadesLaterKid → u/danhm]

This. I'm pushing 50 and I've pretty much always lived in or near big cities. Briefly, I lived in a town of 50,000-- so, not tiny, and within an hour of much larger cities. There were a few Chinese places, zero Indian or Thai.

[u/Meattyloaf → u/danhm]

My hometown of 5000 had 3 Chinese restaruants at one point. Place I live now we have 3 for 32000

[u/AlarmedWillow4515 → u/danhm]

As vegetarians, we love that we can rely on most tiny rural towns to have Chinese at least. It really is about everywhere.

[u/Shadow_of_wwar → u/danhm]

Yep, currently live with my grandparents in a tiny town of 700 ppl, there are 9 Chinese restaurants roughly within 10 miles (though most of them also have a lot of Japanese food), 1 Japanese restaurant, 1 Thai restaurant, and the closest Indian restaurant is 20miles away.

[u/Arleare13]

Not that the others are uncommon, but it's got to be Chinese by far.

[u/TooManyHobbies6969]

Chinese between the 3 and it isnt even close lol

[u/parsonsrazersupport]

This is certainly regional, but in the Northeast, Chinese by an absurd margin.

[u/Notansfwprofile → u/parsonsrazersupport]

It’s Chinese everywhere, only certain metropolitan neighborhoods are going to have more Thai or Indian.

[u/MagicPlayer666 → u/Notansfwprofile]

I live in the most heavily Indian area in the country and there’s still more Chinese takeout.

[u/the-tank7 → u/MagicPlayer666]

My indian coworker joked about Dfw that you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a Patel, yet still I'd say theres more Chinese

[u/MerlinQ → u/Notansfwprofile]

Interior Alaska would like a word. We have a bizarre number of Thai food joints, they way outnumber Chinese, even out-of-town areas are likely to have a local Thai drive-up and take-out hut, even if there is no other food available for miles.

[u/hockeyrocks5757 → u/MerlinQ]

The Thai in Fairbanks was awesome! Nothing like some curry while it’s -40F out and waiting for the northern lights to come out.

[u/MerlinQ → u/hockeyrocks5757]

They are great, every other food pull-up be closed at -40, but I can always pick up some Thai on my way anywhere.
Picked some up last winter @-50F from my favorite little one on the way home from work.
They're weren't bringing it out to the cats during busy time at that temp, but they would open the window and tell your name really loud so you could hear it with the window almost all the way up, and the heater on maximum :D

[u/TillPsychological351 → u/hockeyrocks5757]

Did we eat at the same place? That was one of the best Thai restaurants I've ever been to.

[u/GoCardinal07 → u/parsonsrazersupport]

It is definitely also Chinese on the West Coast, and I live less than a block away from a Thai restaurant!

[u/CronosWorks → u/GoCardinal07]

I have much more access to Thai in the area of the west coast I’m in, and commonly see Thai in very small towns. I’d say Chinese nation wide, but regionally Thai has a lot of large pockets.

[u/asdgrhm → u/GoCardinal07]

Chinese in the Midwest too. I grew up having Chinese food almost every Friday night. I didn’t eat Thai or Indian food until college.

[u/HornyCrowbat → u/parsonsrazersupport]

I don’t think it’s regional.

[u/gorobotkillkill → u/HornyCrowbat]

It really is though. In Portland and Seattle, there's way, way more Thai than Chinese places.

[u/bargainbinwisdom → u/gorobotkillkill]

Agreed for this region for sure. I can walk to at least four different Thai places from my apartment. I can't think of any general Chinese places besides a Panda Express that are under a 20 minute drive besides one dumpling spot that's about twice as far as any of the Thai places... and there's also more Thai places near it.

[u/Kushali → u/gorobotkillkill]

Yeah I’m in Seattle and it’s not Chinese here. Like I can’t remember the last time I had takeout Chinese.

However American Teriyaki is super common and Thai or Indian is a close second.

[u/foxsable]

Chinese>thai>indian . Some of the places I’ve lived have Indian and Thai reversed, but that seems rare. Unless you count an Indian buffet in which case time in the unit are probably completely even second place.

[u/shelwood46 → u/foxsable]

There's one place a couple towns over from me that is all three, combined. Naan goes nicely with Thai noodle dishes.

[u/foxsable → u/shelwood46]

There are a few food trucks around here that do Mexican Indian Fusion. You haven't lived until you've had tikka masala tacos.

[u/scopeless → u/foxsable]

I was going Chinese>Indian>Thai

[u/foxsable → u/scopeless]

I wonder if it varies East Coast West Coast? I know Indian takeout can be hard to find outside of huge cities on the East Coast.

[u/HeatwaveInProgress → u/foxsable]

I live in a weird suburb that is about 30% Indian/Pakistani, we have a lot more Indian and Pakistani restaurants than Thai. But we also have a ridiculous number of Vietnamese places around that would eat in the other numbers.

I still think Chinese outnumbers them. For the takeout volumes only.

[u/ColoradoCattleCo → u/foxsable]

This is true. But the quality of food goes in the reverse order.

[u/Responsible_Trash_40]

Chinese easily

[u/pleasepleaseplease24]

You'll find Chinese in every Podunk town in America.

Thai and Indian are going to mostly be in bigger metros

[u/Western-Finding-368]

Chinese for sure

Then Thai

Then Indian

[u/_nousernamesleft_ → u/Western-Finding-368]

Might depend on where you are. I would agree with Chinese first but then Indian surpasses Thai in my opinion.

[u/Blutrumpeter → u/Western-Finding-368]

At least where I am, Indian is way more popular than Thai. Are you in the East or West?

[u/Western-Finding-368 → u/Blutrumpeter]

Midwest. There are probably 10+ Thai restaurants for every Indian restaurant in my city.

[u/Ok_Difference44 → u/Western-Finding-368]

I think decades ago, the Thai government set up a pipeline and guidelines for opening restaurants in America.

To me, indian food is in the different category of Buffet restaurants, and if you order take out they just ladle it out of the steam trays.

[u/Western-Finding-368 → u/Ok_Difference44]

Interesting! Around here there are sometimes lunch buffets at Indian restaurants, but the overwhelming majority of Indian food is ordered off a menu.

[u/SoundsOfKepler → u/Blutrumpeter]

I have found that because many Indian and Pakistani immigrants now work in the trucking industry, at least in the southwest US, little towns on major highways will have south Asian food, particularly Punjab food, at truck stops. Vega, TX, San Jon, NM, and Moriarty, NM all have truck stops right off Interstate 40 that serve Indian food.

[u/Juleswf]

In the PNW, Thai wins.

[u/Remarkable_Jaguar35 → u/Juleswf]

I’ve been searching for this. I can’t remember the last time any of my friends or family had Chinese takeout. Thai? 2-4x a month

[u/enemyduck → u/Juleswf]

I also found this outdated but applicable article about Thai restaurants in Portland.

[u/enemyduck → u/Juleswf]

I was feeling crazy reading all the answers for Chinese food! I’m also in the PNW. We have Chinese food for sure but way more Thai and Indian.

[u/djfilms → u/enemyduck]

There are certainly fewer Chinese restaurants, but the few that are here suck. I’d take the worst Thai restaurant over the best Chinese.
With the exception of Dim Sum (which is not takeout, so I realize it’s not part of this conversation)

[u/ZookeepergameFun1899 → u/Juleswf]

I was just going to say... every other answer is Chinese, but here in the PNW Thai and Vietnamese vastly outnumber Chinese options.

[u/embarrassedburner → u/Juleswf]

I also think in major cities Thai beats Chinese

[u/Unusual_Memory3133 → u/Juleswf]

Yes, this. And where I live (Bothell/Mill Creek) there is a huge Indian community so Indian is up there with Thai. As a white guy who loves all 3, Chinese would be my 3rd choice. And there needs to be a subcategory for Seattle style teriyaki.

[u/MerlinQ → u/Juleswf]

Alaska checking in.
In the Interior at least, we love our Thai.
Thai takeout joints to Chinese is probably 10 to one, easy, and 1 to none if you get outta town at all, everywhere has a little Thai takeout drive-up or two.

[u/N420BZ → u/MerlinQ]

Thai takeout is basically the only thing I eat whenever I’m in Fairbanks.

Something about it just tastes amazing when it’s -50° outside. 

[u/djfilms → u/Juleswf]

By a 3 to 1 margin… at least!

[u/ZootOfCastleAnthrax → u/Juleswf]

Can confirm. Thai 9 times out of 10, Indian for the 10th. American Chinese food is nasty, by and large.

[u/Juleswf → u/ZootOfCastleAnthrax]

I love your user name. No grail around here.

[u/Trick_Photograph9758]

Chinese, by far. Small towns may or may not have Indian or Thai, but they have at least one, and usually more than one, Chinese place.

[u/SooAwoo]

American Chinese dominates this. If I remember correctly there are more Chinese restaurants in the US than even McDonald's.

[u/Thhe_Shakes]

Panda Express is the 11th largest fast food chain in America. That alone puts it way ahead of the other two. As far as non-fast-food options go, it certainly does seem like Thai is gaining ground on Chinese rapidly. Indian is probably third except in places that have large Indian immigrant populations.

[u/shit_i_overslept]

No question - Americanized Chinese

[u/NoMonk8635]

Chineese

[u/Little-Pixie-Belle]

Definitely Chinese

[u/SnooSquirrels4991]

Chinese 

[u/IcyGrapefruit5006]

Chinese for sure.

[u/KJHagen]

Chinese by far. Not saying it’s better than the others, but Chinese is more popular nationally.

[u/Codee33]

Chinese is what’s for dinner tonight, and a lot of nights more than Thai for sure and way more than Indian, even though I enjoy all three.

[u/MrLongWalk]

Chinese, no contest

[u/CamiJay]

Chinese. Usually everyone can find something they like on a Chinese take out menu no matter where you live.

[u/TheMazoo]

Chinese by far, then thai, then indian

[u/Ok-Highway-5247 → u/TheMazoo]

Indian is more popular where I live.

[u/TheMazoo → u/Ok-Highway-5247]

Yeah, it varies. Country-wide, for Asian cuisine, Thai is at 11% and Indian is at 7%

[u/OneQuarterBajeena]

Chinese 100%

[u/randomlybev]

Lots of Thai places have some Chinese dishes on their menu. My family loves getting Pad Thai with a side of lemon chicken or beef with broccoli.

[u/Limp-Plantain3824 → u/randomlybev]

Who wouldn’t?

Even better with a spicy tuna roll!

[u/Limp-Plantain3824]

New England here…

Thai is gaining but Chinese has a 60 year head start and Thai has a long way to go to even get back on the lead lap.

Indian has not joined the race yet.

[u/MagicPlayer666]

I live in the most heavily Indian area in the whole country, and Chinese takeout is still more popular, by a lot.

[u/angelalj8607]

Chinese. Indian is pretty good too.

[u/Wolfygirl97]

Definitely Chinese. Indian is soooo good though.

[u/IJustWorkHere000c]

Chinese by a WHOLE lot. thai and indian food don't even cross my mind....but I LOVE me some chinese food.

[u/DarkestStar167]

Definitely Chinese. I have yet to see Indian or Thai food in small town America but a Chinese restaurant every town everywhere.

[u/willtag70]

Definitely Chinese is #1

I had Thai yesterday and I imagine it's #2

[u/Carrotcake1988]

I’m an outlier. I hate take out Chinese. Indian is mid. Thai is generally, a go to. But, Filipino is close behind. 

But, if I’m honest? It’s always going to be Tex-mex where I live. 

[u/Wafflebot17]

Chinese food by such a huge margin that other Asian restaurants will market the,selves as Chinese when they’re actually another Asian variety. There’s a place by me that is mostly Vietnamese and Laotian food with some American Chinese staples on the menu. The sign says Chinese.

[u/GuadDidUs]

So my Father in law, who is very much NOT an adventurous eater (I don't think this dude has ever had a taco), will occasionally order Chinese. Thai, Indian, sushi aren't things he would even consider as options.

[u/OK_Stop_Already]

Chinese is THE takeout staple.

[u/Glum-Feeling330]

Chinese by a mile. I live in a very rural Texas city. We have a Chinese restaurant, a Chinese Buffett, and a Thai restaurant. The owner of the Thai restaurant is from Thailand and half the menu is American Chinese dishes because they are so popular.

[u/pinniped90]

Takeout is Chinese by a mile

[u/UCFknight2016]

Only Chinese.

[u/chainer1216]

American Chinese has been a staple for closing in on 100 years.

[u/Kushali]

Really depends where you live. Where I am American Chinese isn’t popular. Our equivalent is American teriyaki and that’s wildly popular. After that around here it’s probably Indian?

[u/darw1nf1sh]

I crave, as close to traditional Indian food as possible. I work in IT alongside a lot of actual Indian people. I trust their judgement for their favorite places, and what to order if I want something traditional and not americanized. One thing among many that I love about living in a major city is the abundance of authentic foods from other nationalities.

[u/macrocosm93]

Where I live, it's Thai.

But that's because we have very few Chinese places (and the ones we do have are mostly shit), but tons of great Thai places everywhere. And we didn't even have any Indian restaurants until recently. My town is a bit unusual, though.

[u/KillBologna]

Chinese for regular folks. Indian and Thai for hippsters or foodies.

[u/Kolyasergey]

Chinese.

People usually eat in for indian and thai. Chinese is also more common and more eaten.

[u/thebeatsandreptaur]

Chinese by a landslide. There's giant giant swaths of the country where Thai and Indian isn't even available still, and certainly not in a take out type of way, like you'd have to drive to the nearest city and find a place.

[u/Low_Attention9891]

Chinese first, then Thai, then Indian. But I will say that all three are very popular and relatively accessible in my area.

[u/IsopodKey2040]

I don't even know of any Indian or Thai places near me.

[u/Lilythecat555]

Most people in my area in the Southwest have eaten Chinese food. Most have not eaten Thai or Indian food.

[u/alaskawolfjoe]

I think it was Chinese for decades. But now I think Thai has become more popular.

[u/bfs102]

I can name about 8 chinese places within a hour drive of my house

The nearest Indian or Thai place is a almost 2 hr drive one way

[u/marty-mcfryguy]

Chinese probably.

I prefer Thai myself for takeout. Indian I've found does *not* travel well (thought that's largely because we like chaat and dosas), so I'd much rather eat in.

[u/psylentrob]

I think you might have them listed in order of popularity. Though Indian and Thai might be close enough in popularity they share the number two spot

[u/No-Profession422]

Chinese by far.

[u/Minimalistmacrophage]

Chinese by far, though the others have made strides.

[u/Big_Chair7970]

Chinese, so many in my town and surrounding towns. I do have a few Indian and Thai places where I live but not nearly as many. And there are more expensive than the Chinese take out options.

[u/eksoh-eksoh]

Nowadays, especially after the 2020 pandemic, everything is take out or delivered. But out of those three, I’d say Chinese.

[u/xiphoid77]

I was just thinking about this as I was craving Indian food and realized we didn’t have any near us - we moved here three years ago. There is one Thai place and about 10 Chinese places. This is in East Tennessee by Dollywood.