In the spirit of the World Cup, we offer you a lively and completely subjective global conversation about the merits of the national cuisine of each of the 32 countries competing in Brazil. Can England’s Yorkshire pudding stay the course against pasta al pomodoro? Will Red Red from Ghana emerge victorious over America’s barbeque (North Carolina division)? Go ahead, get acquainted with the dishes described below.

Bet you can’t read just one.

The opening round of our knockout tournament follows the first 16 matches of the World Cup. Each day we'll reveal a match-up and its winner, moving through four rounds of competition until we're down to the final. Writers were asked to come up with a dish that exemplifies the country they are representing, with food alone as the focus. (Desolée about nixing the rosé, France. Es tut mir leid, Germany, about your beer. But this isn't the World Cup of Drinks.)

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