America's Favorite Fourth Of July Foods

For Americans, food is an important aspect of Independence Day, along with festivities, family and fireworks. With the National Retail Federation predicting that 62 percent of people across the U.S. will take part in a cookout for the holiday this year (spending $75.35 on average), what are the nation's favorite Fourth of July foods?

Nielsen conducted a study into food sales in the two weeks around the Fourth of July last year, finding that beef is the Independence Day champion by a long distance. In the two weeks around the holiday in 2016, Americans splurged $804 millionn on beef so expect to see plenty of steak, briscuit and hamburgers sizzling away on the grill this year. Compared to the other meats on the following infographc it of course has to be pointed out that beef is rather expensive. Nevertheless, chicken is far behind with people spending just over $370 million on it. Pork comes in third with $217.5 million.

Berries are the first non-meat entry on the top-10 list and they come fourth with just under $200 million. Other vegetarian options include cherries ($130.7 million) and tomatoes (114.7 million). While seafood is absent from the infographic below, it does of course still have a spot on many Independence Day dinner plates. In 2016, Americans spent more than $85 million on shrimp and almost $50 million on salmon.