In Slovakia, Sports And Food Go Hand In Hand - Just Not As Much As In America
On Tuesday, June 15th, Slovakia will play its first-ever World Cup match as an independent country. And to mark this occasion, a young Slovak living in America goes on to discover more about the sports and food culture of his home country.
Online, June 14, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Washington, D.C., June 14th, 2010 - Tuesday, June 15th, Slovakia will start in its first ever World Cup match as an independent nation. The 7:30am ET game will pit Slovakia against New Zealand. And as a Slovak living in the United States, Lubos Brieda, the founder of SlovakCooking.com, decided to celebrate in style. That is, with beer and snacks.
Beer, that is the easy part. But snacks? Lubos soon realized he had no clue what could be considered typical Slovak "game food".
In America, sports and food go hand in hand. Baseball, for many, is nothing but an excuse to enjoy a sunny day and gorge on hotdogs. Football without a tailgate, the gathering of friends grilling burgers and drinking cold ones? Impossible! And sports bars? Well those are stocked with game specials, be it burgers, sandwiches or chicken wings.
This food and sports culture is absent in Slovakia, the young landlocked country in the heart of Europe. At least, so it seems. To find out more, Lubos contacted his friends and site fans on Facebook and asked for their input.
The first to respond was Mirka, an elementary school classmate and now a PhD candidate at a university in Bratislava. "What an absurd question", she replied. "It's all about drinking. So beer, beer, beer. I would like to have guacamole, but 99% of Slovaks have no clue what that is." Palo, another friend, also chimed in: "Beer and chips. And for the snobs, open-faced sandwiches."
But the responses kept coming and were just as diverse as the Slovak geography. The clear winner were chrumky, the peanut-topped bite size corn puffs. But langose, plate-sized pieces of fried dough topped with garlic paste, ketchup, sour cream and shredded cheese, were also a strong contender. "Gypsy roast", combination of meat cooked with peppers, onions and bacon, also made an appearance as did "chlebicky", the open-faced sandwiches topped with sliced smoked sausage or ham and hard-boiled egg. And of course, a lot of beer.
And what about Lubos? "I think I'll just stick to beer. And perhaps a bowl of chips and guacamole.," he said. But what about you? How will you be watching the games? Join the conversation at http://www.slovakcooking.com/2010/food/worldcup-slovak-game-food