The Idea

The summer of 2002 was a good summer. The World Cup was on and I wasn’t employed. Since the World Cup was in Korea and Japan, the games were on throughout the night and I could afford to stay up and watch all the games live and then sleep all day. So that is exactly what I did.

In 2006 things were a little different. I was employed and the World Cup was in Germany. With the games falling during working hours, I couldn’t see very many of them live and had to be creative to see the ones I wanted. I can recall going to the restaurant patio in the building and chasing staff down at 10AM to turn on the TVs. It didn’t seem nearly as enjoyable as the previous Cup.

Now it is 2010 and things are a little different again. I’m still employed and the games are still on during work hours, however, I have a lot more vacation time and it needs to be used. So, I’ve booked off three weeks so that I can, yet again, watch all the games live!

As the World Cup approached I pondered what I would eat during the World Cup. Initially I pondered what I would make and thought about going through all my cook books to pick out recipes. Then I happened upon a food show that was featuring some ethnic restaurants around Toronto. I decided I would do “A Taste of the World Cup” and either cook ethnic food or go to ethnic restaurants each day, ideally choosing the food for a country that is playing the same day. Upon sharing my plan with a good friend who loved the idea, he insisted I go full out and go to a restaurant every day. So that is exactly what I am doing.

Each day of my vacation I will pick one of the countries that is playing and find a restaurant that servers their food.