The year is 1982, I am 10 years old and for the first time in my life I am in love. A little too young to really understand sexiness, I was unwittingly engrossed by it.
I remember some of the great moments of the time, in particular the banana (for which I gained further affection) kick from Zico who was adorned in the famed Brazilian number 10 shirt. I loved the steely determination and dazzling skills of captain Socrates (many years later my mum graduated and has a photo with Socrates, who was receiving an honorary degree at the same ceremony). Etched in my mind is Karl-Heinz Rummenigge thrashing the English cross-bar with a rasping drive. Then there was the golden boot of Paolo Rossi with his 6 goals for the tournament. I also remember Hungary blasting 10 goals past the El Salvadorians, Bryan Robson scoring a goal after 27 seconds for England against France, the quickest world cup goal in history at the time, and David Narey causing one of the most incredible moments as he pinged the ball from the edge of the area in to the top corner of the Brazilian net giving Scotland a shock one-nil lead (until Zico popped up again).
For me 1966 preceded my birth by a few years, but I have the proof on digital media that England did indeed win a World Cup. For the Dutch it has been a long succession of nearlies, the best team never to win the coveted trophy? I have seen only a handful of nations lift the FIFA World Cup (The Jules Rimet was before my time) over my lifetime; Brazil, Argentina, West Germany, Italy, France and most recently Spain. But the nation that has won the most and introduced sexiness to that innocent onlooking boy of 10 years old back in 1982, was Brazil. And so in a fitting tribute to this golden nation and it’s welcoming of 31 other nations to its footballing shores I am excited to announce a great World Cup Project:
32 Teams – 32 Countries – 32 Dishes – 1 World Cup Feast
That’s right. Staring on the 7th June I am going to be cooking, writing about, photographing and posting one dish from each country. That’s 32 dishes in 32 days! And each dish will be something that can be eaten whilst sat down to watch your favourite teams play. I will be starting with the lowest FIFA ranked country and working up to the top ranked country: As things stand that’s Australia to Spain with 30 countries in between.
So Join me on Duck and Roses each day during the FIFA World Cup for some great food from around the world. I will also be running this exciting project through the Foodies+ community on Google+
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