World Cup

This is "Eat the Match", the HowTo Food World Cup series. Gusto, the resident chef, takes a fixture and pairs a signature dish from each country, so you can cook something from both sides of the game and put it on one table at kickoff.

There are twenty-one pairings. They range from Argentina vs Algeria (asado and couscous) and Brazil vs Morocco (picanha and kefta) to Mexico vs South Korea (tacos al pastor and bulgogi) and Netherlands vs Japan (bitterballen and tonkatsu). Others include Spain vs Saudi Arabia (paella and kabsa), France vs Senegal (croissant and thiéboudienne) and Portugal vs DR Congo (bacalhau and moambe chicken). Belgium appears twice, with moules-frites against Egypt's koshari and Liège waffles against Iran's tahdig. The USA appears twice too, with a smash burger against Australia's meat pie and against Paraguay's sopa paraguaya. Scotland, Haiti, Germany, Curaçao, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Qatar, Switzerland, Sweden, Tunisia and Türkiye fill out the list.

Each piece introduces both dishes, the food culture behind them and how they compare. Some are quick plates and some are slow weekend projects, so the series works for an evening match and a long Saturday alike. Browse by fixture below, or pick a country you have not cooked from before.

World Cup is a top-level section of the HowTo Food menu. 21 guides are published here so far.