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"  Following last night&amp;#039;s selection announcements, Americans around the country have been working diligently on their March Madness basketball game brackets. However, there&amp;#039;s one more bracket to consider...food! The 13 cities hosting this year&amp;#039;s games are all part of a vast food culture in one way or another. This year, invite your friends over for a March Madness celebration and serve some dishes that represent the 13 game-hosting cities. For added fun, you can even make your own food bracket and see which city wins the March Madness of game-day eats. We pitted each city against another, and the winner will ultimately face off against Atlanta, Georgia, where the National Semifinals and Championship Game will be played on April 6. Let&amp;#039;s get cooking! 1. Dayton, Ohio (UD Arena) vs. Auburn Hills, Michigan (The Palace of Auburn Hills) In Ohio, the state fruit is the tomato and the state beverage is tomato juice. That combination is perfect for game-day grub. Simply whip up some homemade salsa to munch on with chips throughout the games and a batch of Bloody Marys for the afternoon start times. For dessert, have cherry pie a la Michigan. If pie is too ambitious because cherries aren&amp;#039;t in season yet, try making cookies with dried cherries or cherry jam. 2. Lexington, Kentucky (Rupp Arena) vs. Salt Lake City, Utah (EnergySolutions Arena) Southern food is an obvious choice for Kentucky, and one dish in particular will be a fun food for your game day get-together: country fried steak. Don&amp;#039;t worry about a very involved cooking process because country fried steak is pan-fried instead of deep-fried. Utah is known for its high consumption rate of one of America&amp;#039;s favorite snacks \u2014 Jell-O. Get into March Madness sprit by making a creative Jell-O parfait that uses the colors of your favorite team.  3. San Jose, California (HP Pavilion) vs. Austin, Texas (Frank Erwin Center)  For a Texas-California food face-off, first serve breakfast tacos. Austin, Texas, is known for making breakfast tacos popular and the city has many varieties involving, meat, eggs, veggies, salsas, and more. Serve homemade guacamole with chips alongside to represent the state of California and its tasty avocados.  4. Kansas City, Missouri (Sprint Center) vs. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Wells Fargo Center) Perhaps the easiest matchup menu of food cities yet, Kansas City and Philadelphia each have one food the city is known for. In this case it&amp;#039;s BBQ versus a world famous sandwich, the Philly cheese steak. Kansas City barbecue consists of smoked meats slathered in a tomato-based molasses sauce, while a Philly cheese steak is simply griddled meat, melted cheese, and maybe a few veggies all in between a white bread roll. 5. Washington D.C. (Verizon Center) vs. Los Angeles, California (Staples Center) A Washington D.C. favorite, Senate bean soup has been served in the Senate restaurant since the early 1900s. The simple soup is made with navy beans and gets its depth of flavor from ham hocks. Another food invention, the California roll, hails from you guessed it, California. A combination of crab, avocado, and cucumber is typically used in the beloved roll. In this case, picking up sushi for guests instead of making it from scratch might make it easier to have time to watch the games.  6. Indianapolis, Indiana (Lucas Oil Stadium) vs. Arlington, Texas (Cowboys Stadium) The state dish in Texas is also one of the most popular game-day foods \u2014 chili. And Texas isn&amp;#039;t known for just any chili. They serve up chili con carne. A rich meaty, bowl of chili will hit the spot while you watch the games, but just remember that Texans leave out the beans. For dessert have a slice of Indiana&amp;#039;s sugar cream pie. Also known as Hoosier pie, this dessert is simple to make since it doesn&amp;#039;t use many ingredients.  Next, guests must vote on their favorites between the winners of matchups 1 and 2 and matchups 3 and 4. The winners of these votes will be compared head-to-head to determine a semifinalist. Meanwhile, guests will compare the winners of matchups 5 and 6, this year&amp;#039;s cities for the East, West, Midwest, and South regional games, to determine another semifinalist. The two semifinalists will then compete in another vote, and the winner will be matched with the March Madness semifinal and championship game city, Atlanta, Georgia (Georgia Dome). For Georgia&amp;#039;s dish, celebrate the close of your very own food bracket with decadent and delicious chicken and waffles. There&amp;#039;s nothing quite like the taste of crispy, savory fried chicken paired with sweet waffles all coated in maple syrup. Whichever food gets the most votes in the Semifinal Winner vs. Atlanta (Georgia Dome) face-off will win your bracket. To make this side game extra fun, have each guest be responsible for one dish to make the food bracket more competitive. For a simpler version, have guests vote on all the foods at the same time and the dish with the most votes wins. Even if your household only sticks to a basketball bracket, you can still munch on foods that are representative of this year&amp;#039;s 13 March Madness host cities. Let the best team (or food) win! What will do you plan to eat during the March Madness games? Will you invite guests over to watch and munch with you? Find more great food content on Delish:  Search for the perfect recipe from our homepage Find out the latest food news Get a recipe book to save your favorite dishes Sign up for our free newsletters Check us out on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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