Cook your way through the World Cup

Football fans across the world are celebrating the 2014 World Cup, which begins today in Brazil. Although the games are exciting on their own, many people are amping up the celebration by cooking meals inspired both by the location of the games and by World Cup competitors. Epicurious features a Brazilian-themed World Cup menu, and the site also recommends this black-eyed pea dish, popular in Ghana, to eat while watching the U.S./Ghana matchup.

Indexed magazine Cooking Light is creating a meal for each match, with the first match between Brazil and Croatia featuring the Brazilian dish Shrimp in Bahia Sauce. Meanwhile, The Guardian provides Jamie Oliver’s recipes for World Cup watching, and is also soliciting readers to contribute their World Cup foods.

Even McDonald’s restaurants in Australia are getting in on the act with a lineup of special menu items celebrating several countries including Brazil and Argentina. Of course, you can use the EYB Library to create your own matchups, pitting a Croatian recipe like Brodet (a fish stew) against a Brazilian challenger such as Moqueca in a head-to-head (or should that be mouth-to-mouth) competition.  For Tuesday’s Algeria vs. Belgium match, an Algerian recipe like chicken tagine with apricots and pine nuts can compete against a Belgian recipe, perhaps waffles. (Mmmm, chicken and waffles…)

What will you be eating while watching World Cup matches?

Photos of Croatian Brodet and Brazilian Moqueca from the EYB Library