The Chang brand serves up a respectable spicy chicken sandwich, and I’m not even grading on a stadium concessions curve. The coating for its O.G. Sando ($20) is thick and crackly, revealing juicy, jalapeño-brined breast meat that, when combined with the Fuku mayo, generates the kind of heat that will be welcome come December — or anytime, really. The sweet-and-spicy tenders ($17 with waffle fries) are a sticky delight that offers a slow, time-release surge of chile pepper heat. The Fuku tenders are several grades better than those currently found at Chicken Guy, another FedEx Field stand launched by a celebrity chef. (See below.)

Fuku is located at Section 329 on the club level and at Section 411 on the upper concourse.

2. Factoria Maria Pupuseria

The counter is located on the main concourse, where every single pupusa is handmade by a team that stands under the giant escalator that ferries fans to the club level, an area that has just about everything except this fragrant-and-filling Salvadoran dish. Sometimes called Maria’s Pupuseria or just “pupusa” (by the FedEx Field’s concessions guide), the stand offers the best deal in the stadium: two hot, griddled masa cakes (packed with your choice of filling) along with a side of curtido slaw and thin tomato salsa, all for $12.50. El Salvador is more fond of fútbol than American football, but I love how the world feels a little more connected, a little more intimate, when these cultures come together at FedEx.

Factoria Maria is located at Section 122 on the main concourse.

The guys behind Swizzler are still relatively new to the concessions game — this will be their first season at the stadium — but they’ve already absorbed a valuable lesson: Do not leave the execution of your food to a third-party concessionaire, whose seasonal employees have little buy-in with your brand. Swizzler is hands-on at FedEx, and you can immediately see it and taste it: Its signature smash burger ($20, with house-cut fries), formed from grass-fed and grass-finished beef, is griddled so that the fat renders and re-forms into crispy, flavor-laced edges — and the cheese melts into every crevice of those twin patties. Its fried chicken sandwich ($20, with fries) features buttermilk-brined breast meat, fried to golden and craggy lengths, which practically explode from underneath the grilled potato bun. These two sandwiches are as good as you’ll get at FedEx.

Swizzler is located at Section 447 on the upper concourse.

The 10 best burgers in the D.C. area

4. South Mountain Ice Cream Shop

This stand, I regret to report, is located on the club level, which means the sweetest and creamiest confections at FedEx Field are available only to ticket holders of the section, named after coaching legend Joe Gibbs. If you have access, make sure to order the Major Hog ($17), a towering, over-the-top sundae layered with Oreos, cookie-butter ice cream, chocolate sauce, chocolate chip cookie crumbles, more cookie-butter ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate chips. The treat is topped with a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting, made by Piece O’ Cake bakery in Frederick, Md. You’ll stare at this monstrosity for a minute, wondering how in the world to eat it, before just attacking it like a pack of wolves. Pity the poor souls who have to make do with Dippin’ Dots inside the stadium.

By the way, South Mountain CEO and owner Tony Brusco tells me that if he has enough staff, he sometimes opens an auxiliary kiosk on the main concourse, too. Does he think that will happen this season? “Yes, absolutely,” he says.

South Mountain Ice Cream Shop is located at Section 341 on the club level.

5. Food trucks at the SeatGeek Legends Plaza: Open three hours before kickoff, the plaza is a fenced-in space, connected to the stadium, where fans can play games, listen to live music and, most importantly, dig into dishes from a rotating roster of local food trucks. Only a couple of mobile vendors will be at every home game, including the Fireman’s Cafe on Wheels, but I didn’t learn this information until later. I sampled dishes from trucks whose appearance may or may not coincide with your visit. If you spot the Braglio Farms Smokehouse truck, make a beeline for it. Its meats (priced by the half pound) are as farm-to-table as barbecue gets: The cuts are butchered from animals raised on the farm and prepared right on the truck in a Cookshack pellet smoker. The brisket and burnt ends should be your first choices.

I also stopped at B-Dub’s Island Soul, a Caribbean-themed truck based in Frederick. Bobby Waters is the chef, but he’s usually found taking orders in front of his rig, while business partner Jeffrey Coa pulls together the orders. Waters’s specialty is these loaded plates that he dubs, with breezy tropical flair, “boats.” The components for his sublime Island Boat ($23) — steamed cabbage, caramelized plantains, shredded jerk chicken, rice and peas — are all meticulously prepared before being layered into a plastic container and topped with a jerk-seasoned aioli, a condiment that the chef is rightfully proud of. The dish trades in contrasts — sweet/spicy, cool/hot, smooth/crunchy — and an unmistakable Caribbean generosity.

Other trucks worth seeking out: Maria’s Kitchen, which serves up respectable beef birria tacos (two for $15), and Trippy Tacos (not to be confused with Tippy’s Taco House, the small Texas-based chain that made inroads into the greater D.C. area), which will hand you three tacos (on thick corn tortillas) for the same $15.

SeatGeek Legends Plaza is located between Gates F and G, near Sections 131 and 132, on the main concourse.

6. DMV Crab Rolls: This vendor, once ensconced on the club level, has made a move to the main concourse, where its food can be enjoyed by all who walk through the gates. DMV’s dishes lean into D.C., Chesapeake and Caribbean traditions while borrowing forms from other cultures. The jumbo lump crab rolls ($25, served with meh-level fries for reasons that escape me) are rightly the star attraction, but I was just as smitten by the stand’s jerk chicken quesadillas ($17), packed into beautifully browned tortillas. The DMV “Uptown” Mumbo Tenders ($15) were a tad too suburban sweet for me, but mileage may vary on that.

DMV Crab Rolls is located at Section 141 on the main concourse.