• Unlike Thanksgiving or other sit-down-dinner holidays, Super Bowl entertaining is decidedly casual, with pizza, snacks, dips and frozen hors d'oeuvres the most popular. Food selection mostly revolves around two things: Can it be munched while watching TV, and does it go with beer or soda?

• "It's an athletic event we celebrate with eating," said Michael Sansolo, senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute. "It's the event that gets more people around the TV than any other." Here are some Super Bowl food stats to crunch on:

11 million: Pounds of potato chips Americans munch on Super Bowl Sunday. They eat an additional 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips and 3.8 million pounds of popcorn.
— Snack Food Association (past figures)

18 people: Average attendance at a Super Bowl party.
— Hallmark's Party Express

36.6 percent: Increase in sales of frozen breaded mushrooms pre-Super Bowl. Sales of frozen shrimp rise 29 percent.
— ACNielsen

$237.2 million: Amount spent on soft drinks (diet and regular) at grocery stores during 2005 Super Bowl week.
— ACNielsen

1,200 calories: Amount the average Super Bowl watcher will consume while snacking. To burn that off , it would take walking for four hours or running an hour and 45 minutes.
— Calorie Control Council

30 percent: Increase in sales of processed-cheese loaves the week before last year's Super Bowl. Flavored snack-cracker sales jumped 68 percent.
— ACNielsen

2 million: Number of pizzas Pizza Hut expects to prepare on Super Bowl Sunday, a 39-percent bump over an average Sunday. Frozen pizza is also a top Super Bowl seller at grocery stores.
— Pizza Hut, ACNielsen

$11.8 million
Additional sales of beer (regular and light) during 2005 Super Bowl week.
— ACNielsen

30.4 million: Pounds of snack food Americans consume on Super Bowl Sunday, twice the average daily amount.
— Snack Food Association (past figures)

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