If you choose your World Cup host city by food, you will have a better trip than fans who choose by stadium size alone, because the meals between matches are where a host city actually reveals itself. The sixteen host cities offer radically different eating: Pacific seafood in Vancouver, tacos in Mexico City, barbecue in Kansas City, southern cooking in Atlanta and a world of neighbourhood cuisines in Toronto and New York. This guide picks the strongest food cities for travelling fans. The best food cities are also the ones where eating well costs least, since street food, markets and neighbourhood restaurants give you the local cuisine at local prices rather than tourist prices.

Mexico City is the strongest food city of the tournament, full stop. Street tacos, market lunches, the restaurants of Condesa and Roma Norte, and the sheer range of regional Mexican cooking make it a destination for eaters first and football fans second. Eat from busy stalls, follow local queues, and treat the stadium area as the one place not to eat, since prices rise and quality falls near any big venue.

Guadalajara is the second Mexican essential. Tortas ahogadas, birria and the markets of the historic centre give you a distinct regional cuisine that is different from Mexico City's, and the mariachi-filled evenings in Chapultepec add atmosphere to every meal. A Mexico-only food itinerary covering both cities is one of the best eating trips in the tournament. Ask market vendors and fellow fans where they eat, since the best recommendations rarely come from the restaurants closest to the stadium gates.

Toronto is the best city for fans who want the whole world on one trip. Kensington Market, Chinatown, Little Italy and the St. Lawrence Market sit close together, and the city's multicultural population means you can eat the food of almost any team in the tournament within a few neighbourhoods. It is also the easiest city for fans with dietary needs, since variety is everywhere.

Vancouver offers Pacific seafood, strong Japanese and Chinese restaurants, and the restaurant rows of Gastown and Yaletown within walking distance of BC Place. The setting helps too: a seafood dinner on the waterfront after a match is a memory in itself. New York, meanwhile, needs no case made for it: Queens alone offers more cuisines than most host cities combined, and the food scenes of Brooklyn and Manhattan reward fans who eat away from the tourist streets. If you have allergies or dietary requirements, learn the key phrases for your host city before you travel, and carry a short written card in the local language to show restaurant staff when ordering.

Kansas City is the barbecue capital of the tournament, and trying more than one style, from old-school joints to newer smokehouses, is a genuine part of the trip. Atlanta's southern cooking, from fried chicken to the modern restaurants along the BeltLine, gives the south-east its own food identity, and both cities are places where a pre-match meal is an event rather than a refuelling stop.

For a practical food plan, eat a proper breakfast where you stay, try street food or markets for lunch, and save sit-down restaurants for one meal a day. That rhythm keeps costs down, keeps you energised for matchdays, and leaves room for the spontaneous meals that usually become the trip's best stories.

Book the restaurants you really care about in advance, since the best places fill up during match weeks, but leave some meals unplanned so you can follow a local recommendation or a queue. Ask hotel staff, market vendors and fellow fans where they eat, rather than trusting only the restaurants nearest the stadium or the fan festival.