Sports fans from different countries have always managed to throw shade on their rivals, even when those rivals change every day, or even by the hour. In 2024, the trash talk managed to turn to other nations' cuisines. The first volley thrown was when an Albanian fan enraged Italians at the UEFA European Championship tournament by taking a handful of spaghetti and breaking it in half. Sure, that stung, but it beats using ethnic slurs or insulting their rivals' mothers. The insult caught on, and soon countries all over Europe were boasting how their national dishes beat another nations' foods, with signs in the stands and on social media. Belgium crowed that its beef stew (stoofvlees) is better than whatever dish its rivals were eating, and Czechia bragging that their svickova is better than kebab when playing against Turkey.
Then came the Olympics. When Hong Kong beat Italy in fencing, Pizza Huts in Hong Kong and Macau celebrated by promoting pineapple pizza, which Italians consider a grave offense. While the sports rivalries are real, the insults are mostly in good fun, because all those foods are wonderful. And insulting someone else's food actually goes way back in history, and it's not always limited to sports. Read about the international food fight of 2024 at Atlas Obscura.