Thanksgiving In Utah: Foodies Unite For A Festive Feast

As we get ready to settle in for a bit of a break on this day before Thanksgiving, there has been a bit of a shift on what happens on this Thursday. Many will still gather as families or close knit groups of friends. Others will take the days and use for travel and recreation. Some others will gather for football watching parties. And yes, a few of us will be in the workplace this Thanksgiving day. But underlying all of this we will be eating. And that opens the door for this:

But, if you are here in Utah, we are not really know as being a “foodie” state, at least according to a recent survey.

If you think “foodie” just means fancy dinners, think again. WalletHub defines a foodie as someone who treats eating like a hobby — whether that means tracking down a street-food truck, stocking up stylishly in a gourmet specialty shop, or whipping up meals at home with ingredients from farmers’ markets. Their latest ranking of the Best Foodie Cities in America looks at more than 180 U.S. cities using 28 different measures related to both affordability and culinary variety.

If you browse the full list, you’ll spot one Utah city among the top 50: Salt Lake City, UT, which ranks 33rd overall on WalletHub’s 2025 “Best Foodie Cities” list. That's not all that impressive. Salt Lake City’s score was 54.88 (on WalletHub’s 100-point scale), reflecting the city’s balance between affordability and culinary variety. It’s worth noting a few of the sub-metrics where Salt Lake City does especially well. For example, the report shows it ties for first place among cities nationwide in “coffee shops per capita.”

What's Behind The Numbers?

To get these results, WalletHub grouped the 28 metrics into two big buckets. The first, “Affordability,” counts things like grocery costs, restaurant meal prices, sales and food taxes, and even average beer and wine prices. The second bucket, “Diversity, Accessibility & Quality,” measures how many restaurants there are per capita, the proportion of full-service restaurants versus fast food, the availability of gourmet food stores, farmers’ markets, international groceries, food festivals and more. Each city earns a score on a 100-point scale for each metric, then the scores are weighted and combined to create an overall “foodie score.”

So which cities came out on top? According to WalletHub, the reigning champion is Miami, FL — thanks to a surprising combo of plentiful 4.5-star (or higher) restaurants, high restaurant density, and a rich mix of dining styles (street food, fine dining, specialty fare). Meanwhile, other familiar contenders like San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR deliver on gastronomic variety and quality, though often at a higher cost.

Read More: Utah's Weird Food Doesn't Seem All That Weird

If you live here in Utah, you might curtly glance at the list and notice a curious fact: neither of the state’s largest cities grabs a top-tier rank. But that's really ok with me. That won't stop me from enjoying a little green jello.