Group Stage Round Up

And with the last kick of the ball in Sao Paulo, the group stage of the 2014 World Cup comes to an end.  There are now only 16 teams fighting it out to see who are currently the best Nation at playing Football.  What we do know is that Spain, Portugal and England aren't even close.

During the last week the final batch of countries have been represented by our blogging team.  Dishes from Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland have been rustled up, consumed and written about.

So we have a meal from all thirty two of the participating nations.  Our list is complete.  They think the challenge is all over.  Well, it's not yet.

Today is a rest day, but tomorrow brings the start of the knockout stage of the World Cup and this challenge.  Every time a team plays, from now until the final, including the third place match, another dish will be added for that country.  Keep checking the countries list for updates and links and follow #wcfc2014 on twitter for the chat behind the food.

Week Two Round Up

No sooner had the magical online ink dried on the first weekly round up of the World Cup Food Challenge than disaster had struck for one of the biggest teams of the tournament.  World and European football champions were sent crashing out of the world cup after their second defeat in two games, this time a 2:0 thrashing by Chile.

Alphabetically Australia were the first team to be knocked out but I doubt that is any consolation to Spanish football fans, or English fans as it wasn't long before England were sent packing from the greatest show on earth too. There is still one more meaningless match for England to play against Costa Rica, who against all the odds, have already guaranteed their progress into the knockout stage of the World Cup.

All of the football action aside the bloggers of the World Cup food Challenge have been busy in their kitchens.  Since the last update, food from Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, Ecuador, England, Mexico, Portugal and South Korea has been cooked for your pleasure.  From cuttle fish to goat and a bangers and mash pie, it's been a busy week.

By Thursday evening we'll know which teams are though to the next round, who they'll be playing against and most importantly, we'll be able to start planning what food to cook for the next part of the challenge.

Week One Round Up

What a week of sport it had been! Andy Murray got knocked out of Queen's, Martin Kaymer won the US Open and Michael Schumacher has come out of his coma.  There was also the small matter of the World Cup.

All 32 of the teams have now played once, with varying levels of success.  There have been shocks; who thought Costa Rica would beat Uruguay?  There have been contentious issues; that never should have been a penalty for Brazil against Croatia.  We have seen what could be the goal of the tournament, if not of the year; Robin Van Persie take a bow.

But while all of this sport has been taking place the more important matter of the World Cup Food Challenge has kicked off in earnest.  So far dishes from Columbia, France, Germany, Greece, Ghana, Honduras, Iran, Japan, USA, and Uruguay have been cooked, eaten, and written about.

There is still plenty more to play for and to eat.  We still have the food of 22 countries to be examined before the group stage is out.  By the time of the next update we may have already lost some teams, or know which countries to expect additional recipes from.  You can follow the action as it happens, here or on Twitter on the hashtag #wcfc2014.

Here we go, here we go, here we go!

Hot on the heals of 2012's Olympic Food Challenge comes the 2014 World Cup Food Challenge.  Four and a half weeks of glorious football, during which a crack team of food bloggers will be creating dishes from the thirty two countries who are hoping to walk off with the Cup* for being the best at football.

The format is simple, twenty two men run around a field until the Germans win on penalties**.

The format for the World Cup Food Challenge is equally easy going.  During the knockout stage, from the 12th until the 26th of June, each blogger will cook and blog about 4 national dishes, one for each each of the teams in their group.  Once we get into the knock-out stage of the tournament each blogger will have to cook and blog about a different national dish, every time one of their teams play.

In theory, during the knockout stage at least, we will have plenty of blog posts to read on a daily basis.  There will be links to every post here along with an in depth*** round up of all of the footy-bally action.

So, as the samba rhythms start up in Rio for the all important opening ceremony, followed by the possibly more important opening match, I wish you all bon appetit. May the best team win!

*it's not even a cup! Club is probably a better description but a football club is something very different indeed.
**thank you Mr Lineker.
***possibly more tongue in cheek.