Looking Back on the World Cup Eating Challenge

Now that this challenge is all wrapped up, I wanted to share some thoughts I had along the way. This challenge was really fun for me and the longer I did it, the more excited I was to try new cuisines and experiment in the kitchen. Even though I've enjoyed cooking for many years now, it's easy to get stuck in a rut. I also love cooking competitions and this was a fun little way for me to challenge myself with different constraints. Those are the obvious, over arching takeaways, but there were a lot of little ones too.

1. Grocery Shopping Every Day 

I feel like I inadvertedly started living like I didn't have the convenience of super markets that is common in many countries. It's not unusual for people to go to markets to get items for dinner each day instead of making a big shopping trip every week or two like we tend to do in places where we have cars and can "stock up" at the supermarket. Even some people in New York and San Francisco live in this way, but I've always been the kind of person to make a huge shopping trip and try to stretch things as long as possible. This is great for convenience but it makes it easy to waste things like produce that go bad after a number of days. It also makes it really hard to keep track of the cost of the meal (which we'll get to later). Despite a couple of unpleasant trips to the store, or trouble finding certain ingredients, going to the store every day wasn't that bad. I started becoming more familiar with my markets and I was able to get really ripe items that I could use immediately. It also was a nice way to break up the day and make sure I did something other than work/home/gym.

I think ideally, going every couple of days would be best. The reason I ended up going every day instead of planning ahead was because I was trying to cover as many teams as possible. This allowed me to see the results of the games and allow me to adjust my plans accordingly.

2. The Cost of Meals 

Since I was going to the store just about every day, I was able to really get a feel for how much each meal cost. I tend to buy a ton of things at once. I generally freeze meats and keep a well stocked pantry. This makes it tough to get a feel for how much things cost on an individual level. However, with this challenge, I had a good idea of what everything set me back. In general, each meal cost around $10-20 which isn't two bad considered it easily fed Dan and I (who are both big eaters) and there were generally enough leftovers for another meal or two. There were a few exceptions of course. The yucca for Cameroon was only like $2 (if that) and the seafood dishes were more pricey.

I'd say the least efficient aspect of it was the fact that I was cooking just about every day. This made it hard to always eat our leftovers despite our best efforts. In a more normal situation I think we could stretch out most meals to be our dinner, my lunch, and part of the next night's dinner too making it really go further.

3. Gluten Free / Paleo Alternatives 

I know some people caught on but if you didn't - I really tried to make each meal in a paleo or gluten free way. For some of them like Iran and Algeria, I gave in and had lavash bread because I love it. In general though, it wasn't that hard to either find a recipe that was paleo/gluten-free or to just make my own substitutions. I think the biggest comment I always get is "isn't paleo hard" or "it's so restrictive, I could never give up ____." To that I point out that I made waffles (two different ways), fried chicken, cheesey bread (cheese isn't paleo and I would never give it up), cake, fries, and mac and cheese - all without gluten, most of them paleo. There's an unlimited number of options for dinners, desserts, breakfasts, and sides but sometimes you have to be a little creative. Maybe people don't want to go through the work but it's worth it. The waffles and cupcakes I made for this challenge were easily the best I've ever had. It goes to show that a lot of time dietary "restrictions" can actually be huge improvements to the quality of your eating.

4. Differentiating Similar Countries 

After I'd decided to do this, I sat back and thought about planning and I realized very quickly that there were a lot of countries that I just assumed all had similar cuisine. I was very worried about being able to find things that would feel different while being a very similar type of cuisine. I did reuse a lot of ingredients - corn flour, plantains, mangoes, avocados, etc. - but I tried to use them all in different ways or tweak them from before. It led me to really see a lot of differences and similarities between the countries. This was very poignant in South America. For example, every country has a kind of sauce that's pretty common and it was interesting to see the differences (even if I didn't make them all). Argentina has chimichurri. Uruguay also has chimichurri but it's a little different. Colombia has the Aji sauce that I made which is similar but different from Brazilian molho. It was really fun to find and use the differences to make the countries feel unique despite similar ingredients. It really helped give me a better appreciation for all of the countries.

5. Learning When to Stick to Paleo 

Part of the extra fun and challenge for me was to try to make things paleo that people don't normally think would be possible. Breads, cakes, waffles - all possible. However, beans aren't paleo and there's no way to make them paleo so when I wanted to make black beans, I had to just go for it. I think the best thing about trying to eat healthy and fresh... is to do it with moderation. If you are too strict on yourself, you're just going to feel like you're missing out on things you love. I'm Brazilian and I grew up with black beans so I'm having black beans sometimes. I also love cheese and most times I was great with going gluten-free or mostly paleo and then would add a handful of cheese because cheese is awesome.

6. What to do Next 

In my first post, I talked about how I needed to re-brand my blog and figure out what direction I wanted to take with it. I said that this challenge was outside of all of that and I didn't know what was next. It's funny how these things happen but the challenge helped me figure it out. I love cooking and wine and eating and writing. Writing about just wine was really hard for me. Writing about food and cooking (and the struggles or joys that come with it) alongside wine - that's really fun. I think mixing that in with some of my adventures will be even more fun.

The title of this blog has been "Nikki's Adventures with Wine, Food, Travel," etc... but now I know how to execute that. I want to really focus on cooking globally (which still includes good 'ole American food), the wines and drinks that go with those dishes, and also just international travel and culture. That's not a strict guideline. I'm still a total nerd at heart and I have some ideas for nerdy dishes as well. I just know that this challenge gave me a taste (hehe puns...) of how fun international cooking can be and there are so many countries that weren't in the world cup or didn't get the attention that their food deserved and I want to give it to them.

7. Sharing My Food Journeys 

To everyone who supported and shared and gave amazing feedback to my posts - I really appreciate it. It was really amazing for me to see people I wasn't in a lot of contact with telling me how much they enjoyed this challenge. I had a lot of people tag me in Instagram and Facebook pictures of recipes they borrowed or Paleo inspirations because of all of this and I really loved. It's really helped me decide that this is something I have a lot of passion for and want to continue sharing with everyone! Even though I had a little rant in my last post about some negative feedback I got from someone who didn't even try the food, for that one comment I've gotten a ton of positive ones so thank you friends!

For those that don't know - you can follow me on Instagram/Twitter (content is mostly the same so pick your poison or follow both). My handle is the same as the blog address - @nikkilinc. I post a lot about my daily meals, wines, adventures, and, of course, cats. In real life, I eat a lot stricter paleo (mostly lots of fresh veggies and quality meat) and drink a lot more wine than I think showed up here.

I'm also really active on Pinterest (also @nikkilinc). I got a lot of recipes and inspiration from there and I have a ton of food boards including one just for this challenge so you can see all the ideas I didn't get a chance to use.

8. Future Posts 

Here are the rest of the ideas that I have. Some of the posts are ready to go and you'll see them soon. Others are still brain babies so there are no promises but I'm hoping to get them out as well.

• Shucking oysters at home
• Recent trips - Santa Cruz, State fair, San Diego (and the wine tasting involved)
• Food from the World Cup countries I didn't get to
• Food from countries that aren't good at soccer - China, Thailand, Vietnam, Ireland, Canada, India, etc.
• Wine Wednesdays - short weekly post recapping wines I've tried over the week

I'd love to hear any other suggestions and I look forward to more blog adventures!