This ended up being the correct formula in my case:
$sql = "INSERT INTO foodWishes(foodWishName,foodWishPoints) VALUES (%s,%d) ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE foodWishPoints = foodWishPoints +1";
// var_dump($sql); // debug
$sql = $wpdb->prepare($sql,$sanitized_foodWish,$foodWishPoint,);
// var_dump($sql); // debug
$wpdb->query($sql);
if($sql){ //return the response
echo $sql;
}else{
echo "something went very very wrong";
}
exit();