Certain match-cheering foods are associated with certain sports and particular sporting arenas.
At Wimbledon, it's been strawberries and cream. Some 28,000 kg of the fruit, specially chosen and sourced from the UK, are consumed during the tournament annually. Game spectators may daintily sip champagne in delicate flutes with it.
Across the pond, Americans must eschew anything bordering on the formal, and at Flushing Meadows, at the US Open, the staples are hot dogs, the crisscrossed waffle fries and hamburgers. Although the event has its own intriguing signature cocktail, the $22 Honey Deuce, concocted from honeydew melon balls, vodka, lemonade and Chambord (raspberry liqueur), since 2007, and in 2023, 405,000 cocktails were hawked, according to Grey Goose.
Aussies tuck into the famous Peach Melbourne soft serve at the Australian Open, which is a soft vanilla ice cream with pieces of fresh peaches and raspberries.
Ascot is about cucumber sandwiches and scones, while at the Kentucky Derby it's mint juleps and pimento cheese sandwiches.
In America, at most golf events, hot dogs are king, but select venues have offerings -- at the famous Pine Valley green in New Jersey, a thicker-than-bisque snapper soup, made from turtles, is hot property.
At Lord's, cricketers and members can dine on a menu of sweet potato soup, steamed halibut fillet, roasted lamb rack, fresh fruit salad and dark chocolate torte, while cricket fans in the stands may be crunching on fish and chips.
In India, biryani is frequently found at cricket stadiums. And the ubiquitous samosa.
Cape Town's Newlands cricket ground have an offering of lamb or bean curry (rajma) inside a naan, topped with tomato sambal, that is thoroughly relished by cricket-wallahs, in addition to two different types of dressed-up sausages -- the intensely smoky Russian sausages and the extra-meaty boerewors.
So, what is football food?
What are fans watching Euro 2024 matches, hogging on at host Germany's stadiums?
The food stalls at the 10 host cities, of course, overflowed with frankfurters, bratwurst, currywurst (diced steamed or fried sausages with chips and curry-accented sauce), schnitzel (usually batter-fried pork, chicken or veal).
Mostly it's a sausage superfest, but each German city at Euro 2024 does have its specialty -- Hamburg for Labskaus (eggs and pickled herring plated with potatoes and beetroot); Cologne for Rheinischer Sauerbraten (a wine-marinated beef roast); Munich for Schweinshaxe (a Bavarian pork-knuckle entrée); Berlin for curryworst; Dusseldorf for Senfrostbraten (a mustardy steak turned into a roast); Leipzig for Eierschecke (a custardy cheesecake); Stuttgart for Maultaschen (smoked meat-filled pasta dumplings); Dortmund for Pfefferpotthast (as the tongue-twisting name suggest, a peppery beef stew offered with bread or potatoes) among others.
Football is played in over 230 countries in the world, and is more popular in Brazil than any other place, according to World Population Review, but maybe they haven't visited Bengal, Goa or Kerala.
At football matches, across the globe, at the half-time whistle, the food sold varies from the doughnut-ish puff puff and fufu (plantain) of Cameroon and Iran's saffron-buttered chicken stuffed in flatbread, to ginger chicken rolls and cold ramen in Japan.
Feijao Tropeiro is often the football grub of choice in Brazil. It's a sausage-black bean-collards stew served up with rice, eggs and torresmo (pork rinds). Minty, grilled Cachaça Chicken skewers is also loved. And on the sweet side of things: Grilled pineapple sprinkled with cinnamon sugar or brigadeiros (chocolate caramel balls).
Football fabs in Manchester, home of EPL star clubs Manchester City and Manchester United, munched on Eccles cake, as the ball did its cosmic dance across the field -- a flaky leavened pie-bread, it contains currants and candied peel.
Panchos, a sausage bun garnished with mustard, cheese, salsa, are game-day treats in Uruguay.
Soccer means buckets of fried chicken in America, especially in New York.
The Spaniards consume many a bocadillo filled with jamon or Spanish cured ham, olive oil, red peppers and Manchego cheese, while play is on.
The French wolf down Croque Monsieurs (a baked Gruyere cheese ham sandwich with sometimes bechamel sauce on top) and chocolate meringues (sorry, do the French wolf anything down?).
Hotteoks or sweet pancakes enclosing nuts and sugar syrup is one of Korea's go-to stadium khana. Shawarma and kunafa is match-whooping fare in Qatar. In Senegal they prefer lemon-mustard-onion-chicken Yassa Poulet.
Ireland sells load of hot beef rolls, coffee, chips, beef burgers and hot dogs at football games.
At trhe Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, shawai chicken and porottas sell like hotcakes.
Game food in Kolkata could be chicken patties, veggie patties, jhalmuri and lebu cha.
If you can't reach a sporting venue, many Indians watch soccer matches at pubs and new and old-style clubs, where popcorn, potato skins, chicken tikka, mutton boti make the rounds and adrenaline is at an all-time high.
Ninety minutes is a long time, and much sustenance is required to cheer your way hoarse through the second-last or last fixture of this season. So if you are planning a game night at home, you might need an exciting bunch of stuff to dine on that you can rustle up in the kitchen beforehand.
Choices: Jaldi-Five Canapes, Tempura, Burrata Ball, Yoghurt Herb Dip, Turkish Gozleme, Jhatpat 2-Min Dip, Indian-Ishtyle Chex Mix, Eggplant or Brinjal Dip, French Fries Three Ways, London-Style Paneer Kathi Roll, Jhalmuri.
Meaty options: Kebab Recipes Special, Chicken Falafal, Crunchy Chicken Cutlets, Fish Cutlets, Sara Jacob's Fish Cutlets, Anita's Chicken Porcupine, William Dalrymple's Tiger Prawns,
In addition to these suggestions, how about making your own football stadium-type rolls and attempt my Jalapeno Sub Roll.
Or go Indian and cook up simple but scrumptious Alu Tikkis, as per a recipe I learned from Dinesh Kumar, the speediest, most efficient and even-tempered cook I ever bumped into. He hails from the village of Banahara, Manakpur in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, but works several homes in the Colaba area of south Mumbai, sometimes finishing his multiple tasks in a home in 15 minutes!
Jalapeno Sub Rolls
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 2 hot dog rolls or mini baguettes
- 7-8 slices dill pickle or gherkins
- 8-10 slices pickled jalapeno, depending on spice tolerance
- 4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce, either shredded or whole
- 2-4 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tsp butter
- 2-4 tsp mustard or kasundi (Bengali mustard paste)
- 4-8 tbsp grated cheese
- ½ onion sliced
- 20 slices green or black olives
- Pinch salt
- Pinch black pepper powder
Method
- Split both the hot dog rolls open, allowing one side to remain joined (see the representative pic above).
Butter each side with ½ tsp butter.
Then spread each side ½ to 1 tbsp mayo.
Divide the pickle slices, olive slices, onions, jalapeno slices, lettuce, cheese between each sandwich.
Sprinkle the salt and the pepper over the vegetables.
Drizzle mustard across the top and warm in an oven (3-4 minutes) or microwave (30 seconds to a minute) till the cheese mildly melts. - Serve warm with potato chips.
Editor's Note: You could also add shredded carrots or shredded green or red cabbage or thinly-sliced green capsicum, slices tomatoes, slices red radish or grated mulee (white radish or daikon), slices cucumber or shredded cucumber.
Non-vegetarians may add various types of cold meat, like salami or bacon or ham or bologna. Or they could add shredded boiled chicken or forked canned tuna.
Dinesh's Alu Tikkis
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
- 4 large alus or potatoes, boiled, peeled and well mashed
- 6 slices bread, ground to crumbs in a mixer
- 2-3 green chillies, chopped
- 3 tbsp chopped green dhania or coriander or cilantro
- 1 tsp jeera or cumin powder
- 1 tsp chilly powder
- Generous pinch hing or asafoetida powder salt
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- Oil for shallow frying the tikkis
Method
- Mix all the ingredients for the tikkis together, except the oil and knead well till it comes together.
Form into 1-inch diameter balls and flatten.
Pan fry on a tawa or non-stick frying pan till crips and reddish. - Serve hot with dahi, chutney and imli chutney.
Editor's Note: Make your own mint chutney. Use Lahu Kapduskar's recipe for Green Mint Chutney.
For Imli Chutney use this recipe.
Lead Image: Francois Lenoir/Reuters
