This is about as close as a food question gets: 45% of Americans prefer the edge of the brownie pan, 39% the centre. The two pieces are genuinely different foods. The edge sits against hot metal, loses more moisture and browns more, so it comes out chewier with a firmer crust; the centre stays wetter and softer. Nobody is mistaken about what they are choosing. What makes the result worth recording is that the preference moves with age in a clean line. Adults under 30 lean to the centre, at 43%, while 51% of those aged 65 and over choose the edge, and the 30-to-44 group splits evenly between the two. A preference that shifts steadily across every age band, rather than jumping at one generational boundary, usually means something is changing slowly: in this case probably how brownies are baked and sold, since the fudgy under-baked centre is a comparatively recent commercial ideal. The pan has not changed. What people expect from the middle of it has.