The subject of food available on offer outside football matches has long been a source of debate and conversation.

And with a review of Reading's stadium grub going viral last week, I thought I'd get in on the action to see what the fuss was about.

On Tuesday night, ahead of the home match against Fulham, I decided to buy food at a Reading game for the first time in a long while.

Unfortunately, the peak years of Blue-Collar Street food providing their delicacies outside the former Madejski Stadium have long since passed, to much disappointment, and it is now the turn of a selection of vans to fill their large shoes.

At 7pm on Tuesday, January 11, I made my way down to the Select Car Leasing Stadium, around to the Sir John Madejski Stand, the East Stand to most, and was greeted with a range of options from burgers, hot dogs, tacos and fish and chips.

With my simple taste buds, I went for a burger, a bacon cheeseburger to be more precise, from Crave Burger who are situated in between a Good Old Boy outlet and a taco outlet.

Reading Chronicle:

Above: Crave Burger outside the SCL Stadium

The smells wafting over drew me in, and once I had parted with my £8, yes…EIGHT pounds, I tucked in.

Deciding to take them up on the offer of lettuce and onions, I was delighted with the sheer size of it, overflowing with lettuce leaves and bacon rashers.

Once I had duly smothered it in ketchup, I took the first bite and was met with a gorgeous smoky flavour of bacon.

The patty itself was slightly disappointing, with mine being quite dry and it certainly did not make the thick bun any easier to digest, but the flavours were all there.

The warm bacon and beef counter-acted the cool lettuce and sauce, leaving it warm enough to eat almost immediately, unlike the hot chocolate or pie fillings within the stadium.

The food at the stadium has come under a lot of criticism since the departure of everyone’s favourite vendors, but personally I could not complain about the quality on offer.

The price on the other hand - well that almost made me choke on my burger. I left the van with a slight feeling of shock at paying that much for a burger which is available at McDonald's for almost half the price.

Reading Chronicle:

Above: My cheese and bacon burger

However, I have been going to football for long enough to understand the pitfalls of buying food on site, and it is certainly something I could not do on a regular basis.

As I made my way back around the stadium to find my seat and enjoy what I had hoped would be a semi-competitive game of football, a wave of horror hit me as I strolled past another solitary van, a van hidden in plain sight, serving pulled pork rolls.

As it transpired, that disappointment is something I would come accustomed to that night…