The Super Bowl is coming up this weekend!

Wait, who's playing? (Obviously, we're just here for the food.)

But how does this relate to Japanese food? Well, over there, they're baseball fanatics... so we wanted to know what they eat when they're watching sports!

At the games, they eat all sorts of delicious things:

hot dogs (just like we do!)

yakitori - chicken on a stick

takoyaki - octopus balls! (They're like little doughnut holes, with bits of octopus inside.) And remember... tako ≠ taco!

Another takoyaki recipe

(takoyaki were one of the first things Allison tried when she visited Japan)

(speaking of which, have you noticed our super cute octopus mascot?)

edamame (and you can even make an easy dip with leftover edamame)

bento boxes, which usually consist of rice, pickles, and fish or tofu or meat

okonomiyaki - japanese pancakes with delicious things mixed in

some people call it Japanese pizza... (we're not sure we agree, but it's delicious either way!)

they're easy to make

(this recipe is super cute)

and you can even put bacon in them (yum!)

Rachael and Allison are planning on having Japanese-inspired Super Bowl parties this weekend... here are a bunch of ideas that you can use too!

kushiage parties - skewered, breaded, deep-fried meat and veggies

takoyaki parties

Japanese curry, buffet-style

udon buffet

temaki sushi bar (hand rolls), with all sorts of fillings, like:

bacon, green onion, cheddar cheese

prosciutto, arugula

tuna salad, green onion

smoked salmon, jarred pickled jalapeno peppers, cream cheese

or any other crazy sushi ingredient combinations you can come up with!

sushi (Allison's going to be making spicy shrimp inari sushi, and in the past she has made buffalo wing sushi)

cheese age (another fan favorite that Allison will be making at her Super Bowl party)

bento boxes

edamame (another good munchie food is Japanese Chex mix)

onigiri (it's kind of Rachael's thing... that and her addictive chocolate almond toffee!)

Rachael will be making these super-cute onigiri footballs

you could make an oshizushi (pressed, or "box" sushi) football field with temari zushi as the football helmets and inari zushi footballs

(you can also stuff your inari age pouches with somen salad - a cold noodle salad)

tebasaki - japanese-style chicken wings, deep fried with a glaze

karaage - deep-fried meat

Congratulations to Erin R., the winner of our Japanese candy giveaway! We love your idea of using Japanese candy in gingerbread houses. ^_^

By the way, we adore your comments, twitter mentions, and facebook comments! We ♥ you guys, and always love to hear about your experiences with the delicious foods we talk about, and we'd love to see your photos if you make any of these things! Plus, we would love it if you guys could rate us and leave comments on iTunes... every little rating helps us get out to more people, and be able to do more with this podcast!

Want to contact us? Send us Miso Mail to misohungrypodcast [at] gmail [dot] com, chat with us on Twitter @misotalk, and like us on Facebook on our Miso Hungry Podcast page! And don't forget to subscribe to us in your RSS feedreader or on iTunes!

And we totally think you should download Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch app (we think sustainability is super important) - you can get it for the iPhone or Android.