Will Grey is an creator, journalist, and model builder. He’s the sort of one who’s at all times obtained three enterprise concepts on the go, and simply sufficient power to see them by means of.
He’s additionally a person of two nice passions: soccer and meals. Laborious to argue with both one. It’s even tougher to consider a greater mixture, and he’s spent the final 20 years proving it.
Each time England performed, he’d lookup what individuals really eat within the opposing nation, pull one thing collectively, and serve it up for family and friends alongside the sport.
Yorkshire puddings full of pulled pork for England vs USA? Sure, please. A home made Iranian stew for a random Tuesday evening qualifier? Completely.
It was by no means something formal, by no means deliberate as something greater than a enjoyable excuse to eat effectively and watch soccer.
However the thought of turning it into a correct cookbook had been rattling round in his head for years. He simply by no means had the correct second, the correct event, or the correct instruments to make it occur.
Then the 2026 FIFA World Cup began taking form, and like an keen substitute in stoppage time with an opportunity at glory, Will’s second had lastly arrived.
The largest World Cup ever, and a writer who mentioned no
The 2026 event is the primary to characteristic 48 nations, hosted throughout the USA, Canada, and Mexico. For Will, it was now or by no means.
“I knew it was going to be a giant event, the most important World Cup ever,” he says. “I believed, if I’m going to do it, I’ll do it for this one.”
So he pitched it. He discovered a standard writer earlier than Christmas and put collectively proposals, flat plans, pattern web page spreads, the entire package deal. They cherished it.
Then they got here again in January and mentioned no.
Their reasoning made sense. A conventional print run means committing to 1000’s of copies upfront, and with a 200-page full-color guide, printing isn’t low cost.
On high of that, the ultimate eight qualifying groups didn’t lock in till late April, leaving barely two months earlier than the event. For a standard writer, the chance didn’t add up.
However Will wasn’t able to let it go. He’d accomplished the analysis, constructed the layouts, and spent years occupied with this guide. If a standard writer wouldn’t take the shot, he’d take it himself.
200 pages, zero price range, and lots of late nights
With a standard writer out of the image, Will turned to self-publishing by means of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
Amazon prints every copy on demand when somebody orders it, so there’s no must decide to 1000’s of copies upfront. For a guide with a slim window earlier than the event, that eliminated the most important danger.
However determining the right way to publish was the simple half. Really making a 200-page full-color cookbook as a one-person operation? That was a unique problem solely.
Will is a skilled engineer from 30 years in the past who describes himself as artistic and is aware of his approach round a great format.
What he doesn’t have is a publishing group, a industrial kitchen, or a manufacturing price range. So he leaned on AI and trendy design instruments to shut the hole.
He used AI to analysis conventional dishes from all 48 nations, cross-referencing every little thing himself to ensure it was correct. He used it to maintain 288 recipes constant in format and spelling throughout the complete guide.
For the layouts, he turned to Canva, coordinating colours with every nation’s flag and ensuring each four-page unfold felt polished and cohesive.
The artistic selections had been all his. Which dishes to characteristic, the right way to construction the recipes for match-day consuming, the place to place his personal twist on a basic. Each dish needed to earn its place within the squad.
Some nationwide dishes that needed to be included didn’t match neatly as a most important course, so Will discovered methods to adapt them, tucking them into lettuce leaves as a snack or rethinking them solely in order that they’d work as finger meals.
“You provide you with these items and also you’re like, oh wow, that sounds actually good,” he says.
All of it accomplished as a facet venture, squeezed into evenings and weekends. One nation per evening, then off to mattress and on to the subsequent one.
Not dangerous for a facet venture
After six months, the guide was accomplished. All 200 pages of it, full coloration. World Soccer Meals.
There’s one thing about cooking one other nation’s meals whereas watching them play that makes the World Cup really feel greater than simply soccer. You’re consuming their meals, however you’re additionally experiencing their tradition. That’s what Will wished to seize.
Each nation will get six recipes: three snacks, one most important course, and two sides. The format comes from years of Will determining what really works on match day.
“Three snacks as a result of it’s soccer and also you need fast, straightforward issues to eat,” he says. No one desires to be caught within the kitchen when the sport’s on.
The principle course is usually the nation’s nationwide dish, or Will’s tackle it, for once you’d slightly sit down for a correct meal earlier than kickoff. And the edges are the place issues get actually enjoyable, as a result of they allow you to combine and match between nations.
“Over time, I’ve accomplished a little bit of fusion, or cross-pollination because it had been,” Will says.
Brazil vs. Morocco? Pair pão de queijo bites in opposition to hummus kamoun and let the desk resolve who wins. A gaggle-stage afternoon with three video games again to again? Graze your approach by means of asado beef and chimichurri from Argentina, Egyptian kushari, and pulled pork potato skins from the USA.
Each recipe is designed to be accessible, too. Virtually each ingredient will be discovered at an everyday grocery store. The place a dish historically requires one thing laborious to supply, like plantain leaves, Will has included on a regular basis substitutes. Spring greens work simply nice.
“I like variation in meals,” he says. “You possibly can at all times play with issues.”
It’s the sort of cookbook you’d maintain utilizing lengthy after the ultimate whistle. The recipes are so numerous that they work simply as effectively for a Tuesday dinner as they do for a World Cup Saturday.
Getting the guide on the market
The guide was accomplished. Now individuals wanted to really see it. Amazon’s KDP handles the fundamentals: cowl picture, description, “Look Inside” preview.
However Amazon product pages all look the identical, and for a guide as visible as this one, he wanted a spot he might really present it off.
“Amazon does what Amazon lets you do. But it surely doesn’t promote it the best way I’d prefer it to.”
So he constructed worldfootballfood.com utilizing Hostinger’s web site builder. It took solely about an hour and a half.
He’d already constructed a number of websites on his Hostinger plan for different initiatives, so he knew precisely the place to begin.
He picked a template he’d noticed whereas constructing one among his different websites, one which felt vibrant and daring. “Pizzazzy” was the phrase he used.
He swapped the colours, uploaded his web page spreads and dish pictures. The result’s a web site that really feels just like the guide: vibrant colours, daring textual content, scrollable web page spreads, and galleries of dishes that make you need to begin cooking.
“It allowed me to go to market immediately with extra concerning the guide than Amazon had,” he says.
And with barely any advertising and marketing price range, having an expert web site to incorporate in press releases has been surprisingly highly effective. One native way of life journal lately ran a full-page unfold concerning the guide and drew visible inspiration immediately from the web site’s design.
That wouldn’t have occurred from an Amazon hyperlink alone.
Do it since you get pleasure from it
When requested what recommendation he’d give to anybody sitting on an thought, Will doesn’t hesitate: do it since you get pleasure from it, not since you count on it to succeed.
He’s written a children’ guide that went nowhere. He’s obtained card recreation concepts caught within the pipeline as a result of there’s no print-on-demand choice for playing cards. Not each thought works out, however each taught him one thing. And when the correct thought met the correct second, he was prepared.
“I wished to put in writing a guide. I’ve at all times wished to put in writing a guide. Now, I’ve written a guide,” he says. “I simply need individuals to go and cook dinner some meals through the World Cup and luxuriate in it. That’s the goal.”
For Will, that was sufficient to get began. However he wasn’t about to cease on the minimal. He might have listed the guide on Amazon and left it there.
As a substitute, he constructed a web site, began a social media presence, and despatched press releases. He’s posting day by day Instagram reels as a part of a 48-day countdown to the event and lately pulled off a six-recipe cookathon masking two dishes from every host nation.
“Going the additional mile makes a distinction,” he says.
He’s even been sliding into footballers’ DMs. There’s a dish from DR Congo referred to as Saka Saka, and naturally, Will felt it was his obligation to tell Arsenal and England winger Bukayo Saka about his culinary namesake. No response but.
Bukayo, in the event you’re studying this: verify your requests.
Will’s not the one one within the household who’s going for it, both. His 13-year-old son has gained nationwide awards for nature pictures and has began doing pet portrait classes across the neighborhood, full with a web site they constructed collectively.
His spouse launched a sustainability consultancy referred to as Greener Faculties, and after a few yr of the positioning quietly sitting there, inbound inquiries began arriving on their very own, together with one from a college in India.
“Nowadays it’s really easy to create issues,” Will says. “It nonetheless takes effort, however the instruments are there.” And Will has put within the effort.
Now, the groups are within the tunnel. The guide is prepared. The web site is reside. And in his kitchen, Will is already chopping onions for kickoff.
Simon is a dynamic Content material Author who loves serving to individuals rework their artistic concepts into thriving companies. With in depth advertising and marketing expertise, he consistently strives to attach the correct message with the correct viewers. In his spare time, Simon enjoys lengthy runs, nurturing his chilli vegetation, and climbing by means of forests. Comply with him on LinkedIn.
