Paris 2024 Olympic Village Runs Out Of Food; Teams Bring In Emergency Chefs

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

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One of the most important aspects that the Organizers had to take care of in order to best welcome the 10,000 athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics is certainly the food.

Athletes (and swimmers in particular) are always hungry, and diet is an essential part of preparation for a week of competition for which they have been training for years (perhaps their entire lives). However, within days of the opening of the Olympic Village in Paris and before the action has even begun, controversy is erupting over food reserves in the dining hall.

The main athlete restaurant lives in the heart of the Olympic Village, north of Paris, is currently one of the largest in the world with 3200 seats.

For the entire period of the Games it will remains open around the clock, guaranteeing 40,000 meals a day, all according to a menu of more than 500 recipes, half of which are vegetarian, to meet every need, through about 50 hot dishes.

The space is divided into six sectors: two dedicated to French gastronomy, two to international cuisine, one to Asian cuisine, and finally an African-Caribbean option.

The organizers planned for an average of 2 1/2 daily meals per athlete, and 600 tons of food daily, but apparently the calculation was wrong.

The last few days have seen a shortage of eggs and meat, products loaded in protein for vegetarian and omnivorous athletes. In the early days of the village’s opening there was an onslaught of eggs and grilled meats, forcing the chefs to ration them.

Automatically the contingency plan was triggered, with supplies being increased to match supply to demand.

The advantage is that 80% of the food comes from suppliers within a 250-kilometer radius, in line with sustainable economic principles.

But some teams were not satisfied with the proposed solutions and called in their chefs to make up for the lack of food in the Olympic village

Andy Anson, chief exec of the British Olympic Association told The Times,”Our athletes have decided they would rather go and eat in our performance lodge in Clichy, so we are having to get another chef to come over as the demand is far exceeding what we thought it would be”.

Anson told there are “usually two or three issues at the start of every Olympic Games, but the food in France is proving a major problem in the camp.

“There are not enough of certain foods: eggs, chicken, certain carbohydrates. And then there is the quality of the food, with raw meat being served to athletes,”  he said. “They have got to improve it over the next couple of days dramatically.”

Clichy is home to Team GB’s high performance center in France and is about 4km away from the Athletes’ Village. It takes about 15 minutes to reach by car or 45 minutes on foot in the northern neighborhoods of Paris.

Bus Shortages

Athletes have also been concerned over the lack of transportation to venues, with many, including Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Maggie McNeil, posting videos of crowded busses with athletes crammed onto floor seats.

The athlete village is located about 10 miles (15km) from La Defense Arena, where the pool swimming competitions are taking place. Athletes have reported on social media up to a two hour trip to get from the village to the pool because of traffic and lack of busses.