foodspring.com's Super Bowl Food-Off 2012

First Quarter: City Scrimmage

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Though the Giants are technically based in East Rutherford, N.J., the team represents the New York metropolitan area—a mecca of foodstuffs, from cosmopolitan cuisine to high-end innovation—giving the Patriots a serious run for its money. The Big Apple boasts dozens of Michelin-starred restaurants in the guide’s 2012 iteration and took home a huge helping of James Beard Foundation awards in 2011, while Boston got no love from either gastronomic authority. The Patriots get points for sharing a home with two of the oldest restaurants in the United States—Union Oyster House and Durgin-Park (c. 1826 and 1827, respectively)—but with today’s restaurant renown and all-star chef lineup, the New York Giants take the lead.

Winner: New York Giants

Second Quarter: Chowder-Chowda Chowdown

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New York City has pizza, pastrami and bagels, while Beantown competes with baked beans, lobster and its state food, the Boston cream pie. Where the twain meet is in a hearty bowl of clam chowder. Between New England and Manhattan styles is one key difference: New England style bans tomatoes, Manhattan embraces them. Since taste is subjective, this one comes down to pedigree: Though the recipe and its variations have been a nationwide mainstay since the 1850s, the first printed recipe for chowder (though with fish, not clams) appeared in the Boston Evening Post on September 23, 1751—in rhyme, no less: “… Next lay some Fish cut crossways very nice / Then season well with Pepper, Salt, and Spice; / Parsley, Sweet-Marjoram, Savory, and Thyme, / Then Biscuit next which must be soak'd some Time …” Charming lyricism and a historic first give this round to the Pats.

Winner: New England Patriots

Third Quarter: MVPs

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A team is only as good as its players, so we turn to individual players of note to see who’s dipped their toes in the foodie pool. The recently announced Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook, a collection of famous folks’ favorite recipes from their childhood, includes contributions from Beyonce, Jay Leno and—believe it or not—Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, who offers up a recipe for Lace Cookies. Teammate Justin Tuck had a cameo on the second season of TLC series Cake Boss, when he ordered a billiards-table–shaped cake for a charity event. And because non sequiturs in advertising are all the rage, The Pats’ Wes Welker made a deft move participating in this kind-of-hilarious ESPN commercial that features fresh, homemade Patcakes … Patriocakes … Pantriotcakes? The score here is 2 to 1, though, so Giants take another round.

Winner: New York Giants

Fourth Quarter: The Blitzkrieg

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Ready your leftovers. This round we bring on the food fight:

Word Association: Google results for team name + food were a respectable 59.8 million for the Pats, but the Giants nearly triple that with 176 million results.

Game Day Fuel: The Gillette Stadium claims more than 500 points of sale for concessions from the likes of Berkshire Grill and Nantucket Sound. But the new Metlife Stadium blows the Patriots’ venue out of the fryer with more than 800 points of sale, including a Food Network Stand and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs.

Food for Good: The Giants host a food recovery month, in which the team hosts food drives, visit food banks and participate in a number of hunger-awareness programs. The Pats do impressive amounts of charity work as well through their Celebrate Volunteerism program, but their Hunger Awareness program gets a meager week to the Giants’ month of activities. (But really, props to both for their efforts. Learn more about them and how to get involved here and here.)

Winner: New York Giants