Letting My Belly Pick the NFL Playoffs

When the Super Bowl rolls around in early February the menu will be set based upon the food each team’s city is known for.  For example, when the Colts and Bears battled it our in Super Bowl XLI in addition to chips, nachos and other football food we also had roasted corn on the cob and Chicago style hot dogs.  Although Indiana is also known for brain sandwiches, I decided to leave those off the menu. This weekend the NFL Playoffs start with four Wild Card games.  Below are my picks for the first slate of games based solely on each teams’ representative food.

AFC

New York Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts

New York offers up some truly great Super Bowl food options.  NY style pizza, Nathan’s hot dogs and deli sandwiches piled high with pastrami or corned beef.  Any of these would go perfect with a Brooklyn Lager.  Indianapolis on the other hand does not.  When the Colts made the Super Bowl a few years ago the best we could come up with was corn.  What else is Indiana known for? As mentioned above, brain sandwiches.  I also cannot find any mircobrews that hail from Indiana in my area.  This one is the easiest pick of the weekend. Winner: JETS

Baltimore Ravens vs. Kansas City Chiefs

When I think of Baltimore I think of crab cakes.  Big chunks of lump crab meat formed into a patty and then seared to perfection.  Kansas City is synonymous with bbq.  Big hunks of ribs slathered in a tomato based sauce.  Both areas’ foods are very good but I am going to give the edge to Baltimore.  I prefer chopped pork over ribs and it is hard to beat a properly made crab cake.  Winner: RAVENS

NFC

New Orleans Saints vs. Seattle Seahawks

It’s the land of jambalaya, etouffe, and crawfish against the place where they toss fish at one another and drink strong coffee.  A crawfish boil on Super Bowl Sunday would be epic.  Throwing a fish at Becky will get me a ticket to the dog house.  Winner: SAINTS

Green Bay Packers v. Philadelphia Eagles

I have been to Wisconsin once.  While I was there I had the best bratwurst I have ever eaten.  Milwaukee is also the historic cradle of beer in America.  It may be a macrobrew, but I love an ice-cold Miller High Life.  Philadelphia on the other hand is home to the cheese steak.  At first this sounds great, but when I learned that the “cheese” is in fact cheese wiz my stomach turned.  Winner: PACKERS