Believe it or not, Super Bowl LVI is already here — that’s 56, for those not versed in Roman numerals. Personally, I don’t know the most about football nor do I keep up with the NFL, so if you’re like me, check out this beginner-friendly crash course about the Super Bowl this year. Honestly, my favorite memory of watching the Super Bowl in years past are the party spreads. From classics like chicken wings to Filipino favorites like lumpia, I always had a blast chowing down throughout the night while vaguely watching the game. Here are some of the Life section’s favorite Super Bowl Eats.
Hollie Lao, Life Editor
The fact that I do not know an efficient or less messy way to eat nachos bothers me, but they still hold a special place in my heart. It’s the perfect food to share with a group, since you can easily throw all the ingredients into a tin and bake them together. However, there’s nothing more disappointing than leftover nachos that just don’t heat up the same the next day. Besides a solid group to share with, the key is an equal distribution of the toppings throughout all the layers. I hate when I get past the top layer and there’s no cheese with my chips.
My ideal nachos would have chopped tomatoes, lettuce, jalapeños, ground beef and melty shredded cheese, served with sour cream. Fun variations are buffalo chicken nachos or pulled pork nachos, but the cheese isn’t as prominent in those options. That’s why you can’t go wrong with the classic!
Amy O, Campus Correspondent
One of the best parts of the Super Bowl is the food. Personally, my favorite appetizer to snack on is chicken and waffles bites! Although it seems like an odd combination, they have become an American breakfast-for-dinner classic. Even better, they’re pretty low-maintenance for a delicious snack. After gaining popularity in Harlem in the 1930s, you can now find them at your favorite corner diner nationwide. Eating it is a choose-your-own-adventure — some people eat the chicken for dinner and save the waffle for dessert, but with the chicken and waffle appetizer, you can conveniently get the best of both worlds in every bite.
I was pretty bummed out when I first discovered the dish because of my dietary restrictions. However, the mom-bloggers’ cute pictures on Pinterest finally wore me down. If you want to replicate my spin on them, just cut up Lightlife plant-based smart tenders, dip them in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fry them in a pan. Then pop a Van’s gluten-free frozen waffle in the toaster, cut it into quarters, and place the fried chicken on top. Drizzle with maple syrup and stick a toothpick through, and you’re good to go! Go Bengals!
Kaylie Sheehan, Campus Correspondent
I’d have to say the best Super Bowl food is wings — cliché, I know. In fact, there is a whole restaurant dedicated to the act of eating wings and watching football. They’re such a versatile food in the sense they can be an appetizer or a meal, boneless or bone-in and whatever flavor you want them to be.
Besides the obvious fact they’re delicious, wings truly are not that bad for you. Actually, upon doing some research, I found there are benefits to eating wings. Sources say that the consumption of chicken wings can have therapeutic effects on those who suffer from diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and heart disease, among other things.
Americans eat over 1 billion chicken wings during the Super Bowl. To put that number into perspective, every student at UConn would have to eat 33,000 wings each to reach 1 billion.
A Super Bowl get-together is incomplete without wings, in my opinion. There are pizza, nachos and dips, but none of those things can withstand sitting on the table all day without getting soggy or unappetizing. Even though they can get messy, wings are an easy appetizer to eat, especially when you don’t want to take your eyes off the TV.
