…Japan who achieved great heights with their fluffy pancakes!
England was lucky to be in Group H. Their Cornish pasties progressed to the knockout round with an 8.5 (where they were neatly dispatched by Colombia’s arepas con camarones y hogao), while Spain’s delicious churros with chocolate sauce failed to make the cut in Group B.
As ever, the four of us rated each dish or meal out of ten, which I then averaged. If I cooked more than one dish from a particular country, I averaged all the dishes into one score. This worked against Serbia, who failed to qualify when their pljeskavíca were dragged under by the less-popular krompir salata.
I like to think that the judges’ palettes are becoming more refined. Of the nine countries represented by something sweet, only six made it through the qualifying round.
Where two countries tied in the group stage, I used WordPress likes as a penalty shoot-out. (This allowed Colombia to place ahead of Japan in Group H), though they were later trounced by Iceland’s crepe-style pancakes in the semi-finals.
In the end, it was the battle of the pancakes. And what a match it was… Tied on scores, I then looked at social media, comments and downloads.
I was about to award the prize to Iceland, when the equivalent of VAR intervened. “The Japanese fluffy pancakes are just more impressive, mum,” my younger daughter said. So Japan it is (sorry Iceland!).
Colombia had to settle for third this time. Still impressive but not matching the triumphant barras de límon of 2014.
Ten More Bites 
I absolutely love your idea of cook off on the football background! It’ll make the occasion particularly special!
Thank you — it definitely does and is a good way to involve the girls. Plus it’s a great way to discover new things to cook 🙂