Food & Football: Hurricanes’ Guide to Tailgating UNC-Chapel Hill

The Miami Hurricanes are back on the road following a two-game home stint against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Syracuse Orange. The Canes are taking their 6-0 (4-0 ACC) record and Turnover Chain to Chapel Hill, North Carolina on a “business trip” as Ahmmon Richards put it (2:30 seconds) in his post-practice interview.

The Canes kickoff at 12:00PM ET at Kenan Memorial Stadium against the North Carolina Tar Heels in a pivotal ACC Coastal Division game. The national story line again is, ‘upset alert’. The theory is that the Canes could be looking past UNC to next week’s game against #13 Virginia Tech Hokies. Canes Family, we know better than this. First, Coach Richt gave the following reality check this week: "We're not foolish enough to think that we've arrived yet. I don't think they believe that.” Second, the Canes need to end the current two game losing streak to UNC and I’m sure the below ‘bulletin board’ material from 2015 will add a little extra incentive.

But, before we get into the Game Meal, let’s get to know a little about UNC. It was founded in 1789 and is the oldest public university in the nation. Their school colors, light blue (or Carolina blue) and white, are deeply rooted in the history of the school's oldest student organization, The Dialectic and Philanthropic Literary Societies (Di-Phi). The Dialectic Society, or Di for short, was originally known as the Debating Society. After a month, the Debating Society was split in two by some members who created their own Society, the Philanthropic Society. Early on, students were forced to join one of the two Societies, who were bitter rivals. Di was known by the color blue and the Phi by the white they wore. After establishing its first intercollegiate football team in 1888, the question was what color the team should wear. The decision was to combine the Di and Phi colors and make them the official school colors. Thirty six years later, UNC introduced their mascot, a ram known as “Rameses the First” to its fans which they purchased for $25. A ram was chosen because of the nickname of one of their star players, Jack Merritt, aka “the battering ram”.

Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Food: The inspiration for this week’s dish is good ole Rameses himself. A ram is a male sheep, and a sheep that is under the age of 1 is referred to as a lamb. And that concludes “Sheep 101” for today. So, to best represent UNC at your tailgate or watch party you should add a dish that includes lamb to the menu. You can do chops or a rack of lamb, but for this game I suggest Lamb sliders with spicy garlic dipping sauce.

Donovan Hutchins

Drink: The signature drink for this game is inspired by the one of the state berries. The last time we were in North Carolina, Duke Blue Devils, I suggested a drink inspired by one of the state berries, Strawberry. The blueberry is the other state berry and for this reason I bring to you, the Blueberry Mojito.

Donovan Hutchins

Be safe Canes Family and drink responsibly! For full recipes of this game and previous ones, see “2017 Hurricanes’ Cooking Guide”

Let me know your food and drink choices for this game!