Kansas City families likely ate the same food served to Argentina soccer star Lionel Messi on his birthday.

Why it matters: The surplus food was recovered as part of a collaboration between FIFA and Pete's Garden, a KC nonprofit that turns food waste into meals for families in need.

The big picture: Pete's Garden is saving vast amounts of food from across the city's World Cup ecosystem, including the teams' base camps, Fan Fest and stadium concessions.

• That includes the Origin Hotel, where Argentina's national team has been staying.

What they're saying: Tamara Weber, founder and director of Pete's Garden, says they picked up food from Team Argentina the day after Messi's birthday, which he celebrated in Kansas City on June 24.

• "This was his birthday meal," she says. "I was super excited."
• Other meal distributions have included Argentine chicken dishes.

By the numbers: The nonprofit has saved 660 pounds of food from Origin Hotel alone as of last Thursday.

• A total of 7,804 pounds of food saved across the tournament include more than a ton from Kansas City Stadium — and that's before Friday's Colombia vs. Ghana match.
• Since the start of the tournament, 6,500 meals have been distributed, with a goal of 10,000 by the end.

Zoom out: That's just a fraction of the amount of food going into feeding the World Cup in Kansas City.

• Sysco, a food distributor in Kansas City, scaled up operations before the tournament, including 117,000 additional pounds of fries and 94,000 additional pounds of chicken breast across its restaurant clients (90% of the food) and the stadium (10%).
• Sysco anticipated a demand of 57,000 stadium hot dogs per match, according to a statement.

Context: Weber says she started working with the Chiefs during the pandemic, when the team couldn't train in St. Joseph and the team's chef anticipated having surplus food.

• The team and its concession vendor, Aramark, are now among the nonprofit's biggest sources of food recovery.
• Pete's Garden also works with more than two dozen other local institutions.

What's next

Kansas City's Google searches during the World Cup told a different story from every other host city, new data shows.

Why it matters: The searches map how hosting the tournament reshaped KC's soccer interest in real time, down to which national teams locals typed into Google.

How it works: Google shared search data with Axios, comparing the metro to other U.S. host metros from January through mid-June to identify which topics locals searched for more often than fans in other host cities did.

Team trends

🇩🇿 KC searched Algeria's national team more than France's, the only host metro to do so.

• Algeria based its team in Lawrence, where the college town brushed up on Arabic and French and added halal menu options before the team played in KC.

🇳🇱 The city also searched the Dutch more than Uruguay, again the only host metro to do so.

• The Netherlands' orange-clad fans staged the biggest World Cup march of any host city in the country, and the team played its group-stage match against Tunisia at Kansas City Stadium.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 KC was the only host metro that searched England ahead of Spain, two of the sport's traditional powers. England ran its base camp in the metro, too.

🇦🇷 Argentina ranked as KC's second most-searched team, higher than in any other host metro shown, and the reigning champions played their match here.

Soccer searches

The Heartland out-searched every host metro on "rainbow kick," a flashy move where a player flicks the ball up and past an opponent's head.

• It was also the only metro that searched "defender" more than "forward," the position that usually gets the goals and the glory.
• Mexico, Argentina and Brazil were KC's three most-searched qualifying teams across those six months.

Go deeper

🚲 EZ Pedicabs is aiming to help cover the city's east-west transportation needs, which the mostly north-south buses and streetcars don't reach. (KCUR)

🏛️ Freedom's Frontier, which funds historic sites across Kansas and Missouri, is urging the public to comment by July 13 on a proposed federal rule that would let political appointees veto grants. (Press release)

A metal music-themed coffee shop, Apparition Coffee, opened late last month in the former Second Best space, bringing signature drinks and breakfast burritos to Waldo.

Why it matters: Second Best closed unexpectedly in November after more than a decade, and the neighborhood has waited months for someone to bring the spot back to life.

Zoom in: Brian Denman designed the shop around the metal bands he grew up playing in, from the ghost logo on the wall to menus lettered like an album cover.

• He originally co-owned Waterbird Coffee Company for more than three years before stepping away to start his own business.
• He rehired several Second Best employees and revived the space's beloved breakfast burritos ($9.50).

What to try: The Beetdown ($8), poured in pink ombre layers with a fresh mint garnish, and the Tarragon Lie ($8), a cold brew with coconut, tarragon, lemon and coconut cream, were my top picks.

• Herbal, creamy and unlike anything else in my local coffee rotation.

• The blueberry hand pie held up, too — flaky with a jammy center.
• I also grabbed one of the shop's cute ghost stickers at the register on my way out. Nice laptop decor!

💭 Abbey's thought bubble: I expected a heavy metal coffee shop to feel dark. Instead, I found a bright, friendly space with a cartoon ghost painted on the wall beside my table and drinks that arrived looking like art.

If you go