PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — With the 2025 NFL season right around the corner, a former Eagles chef is cooking up 64 recipes that highlight food culture tied to the league’s 32 teams.
It’s called “Kickoff Kitchen.” Its release date is on Aug. 26, but you can preorder it now.
Tim Lopez, who was the first chef with the Eagles at the NovaCare Complex for over a decade, including during their Super Bowl LII season, cherished his time with the organization and considers their culinary team the best in sports.
Lopez is fascinated by food culture, and over the past year, he completed a passion project that combined five dozen recipes that show what fans of other teams eat in their respective cities.
“We all agree the Cowboys suck, but the food in Dallas does not suck,” Lopez told KYW Newsradio. “It doesn’t. There’s a lot of good food down there. There’s a lot of good food in Cincinnati, a lot of good food in San Francisco, a lot of good food in Tampa Bay.”
Each team, including the two New York and Los Angeles teams, gets two recipes — an appetizer and an entree. The dishes tied to the Eagles are cheesesteak egg rolls and roast pork sandwiches, which Lopez says is his favorite sandwich.
Lopez says football fans will love this book because it’s non-traditional football food with some football mixed in. He believes you don’t have to be a football fan to enjoy these recipes. And he welcomes your honest thoughts, including critiques, because they lead to debates, which he says turn into stories.
“And stories is what this is all about. I love food stories,” he said.
The bottom line is, Lopez says we all win when we eat good food.