Many offices around the country (and probably the world) will be having sweepstakes with the World Cup just around the corner. Our IT Department is no different. Well, it is. Yes, we’re having a World Cup sweepstake, but it doesn’t involve money, like is tradition. This sweepstake involves food…

All 32 competing teams were placed into a hat, OK an old ice cream container. Everyone then picked out a team at random. The idea is that you will bring in a traditional dish from that nation into the office.

I was praying for USA, Italy or England, as this would give me a simple and delicious task of sourcing burgers, pizza or pie. I was also praying I didn’t get South Korea, as I didn’t fancy kidnapping, skinning and cooking the neighbour’s dog.

I picked out Algeria. My initial reaction was “bollocks”. No, I don’t think testicals are an Algerian delicacy. I thought “bollocks” because I have no idea where Algeria is on a map, let alone what is eaten there. I immediately did some research on the world’s most trustworthy source of information – Wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia, some popular dishes in Algeria are…

Merguez. This is apparently a sausage and NOT something which blocks your toilet.

Kanafeh. Originally I thought this was a pancake with blood in it. It’s not. It is a pastry dish. I don’t think there is any blood.

Asida. Not a giant egg, but a wheat-based dessert.

Sadly, Tesco don’t sell any of these dishes, so I won’t be able to subject my colleagues to them. Not unless I’m prepared to cook them from fresh ingredients, which I’m not. Therefore, I was delighted to see that couscous and vegetables is also eaten in Algeria. Excellent! Available in the salad section of Tesco online. My colleagues will also be delighted as they’ll avoid my cooking and contacting E. Coli.