The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup 2026 is taking place from June 11 to July 19, co-hosted by the North American trio of Canada, The USA, and Mexico. There are sixteen cities involved: two in Canada, eleven in the United States, and three in Mexico (Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.) This is the first time that three countries brandish the honour of hosting a FIFA World Cup together, also with an expansion from 32 to 48 teams, organized in 12 groups.
During this World Cup, while following Mexico’s matches, I have decided to find a traditional dish from the opposing country that seems similar to a Mexican dish, as a way to point out that we are all just people, and this is a small world after all.
Mexico is in Group A with South Africa, Korea Republic and Czechia, and its first match took place in Mexico City (CDMX), on June 11, against South Africa; for that match, I chose fried breads from each country. The final score for that game was Mexico 2 – South Africa 0, a win for Mexico on the field, but shared success by both nations in terms of their street food and fried breads.
Mexico’s next match is against Korea Republic, to take place in Guadalajara (Thursday, June 18, 9 pm EST.) Korean cuisine is vast and has been trending around the world for a while now. There are several similarities with Mexican cuisine, such as favouring spicy seasonings, serving fried eggs on rice, and the tradition of packing all sorts of foods in wraps.
Ssam means “wrapped” in Korean, used to name a dish consisting of different foods wrapped with other edibles. Most commonly, a variety of greens is used as the wrap, such as Korean perilla leaves (Kkaennip, botanically Perilla frutescens var frutescens) or lettuce, as shown below:
A classic filling for ssam – included in the wrap in the photo above – and shown below, is grilled pork belly (Samgyupsal Guimgyeopsal):
In Mexico, there are several kinds of wraps, but of course, the most famous is the taco. Practically anything edible inside a rolled tortilla qualifies as a taco; chicharrones norteños – pork belly, cooked as a confit (as seen at the top of this post), is not the exception:
Both types of wraps are finished with fresh vegetables, and a spicy sauce!
For a full story and detailed recipe, check out my post: Chicharrones Norteños – Northern Style Chicharrones
A complete schedule of football matches may be found at the official FIFA World Cup 2026 website.
FUN FACT: A Mexican-Korean fusion dish popular in the US, Canada, some European countries such as Sweden, and even in Mexico, is the Korean taco, which consists of a Mexican corn tortilla filled with any kind of Korean filling, such as bulgogi (seasoned and barbecued thin slices of meat), and of course, Samgyeopsal (pork belly).
BONUS RECIPE: Eight years ago, during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Mexico and Korea were in the same group and had a match. I shared a Mexican-Korean fusion dish inspired by Mexican melted cheese (Queso Fundido) and Korean BBQ Pork Ribs (Dwaeji Kalbi). Click here to check out the full story and recipe.
My Slice of Mexico 
