As the Olympic and Paralympic Games kick off in Paris, more than 200 chefs will be tasked with preparing more than 13 million meals. Here's what athletes can expect. When the Olympic Games kick off in Paris on 26 July, it will usher in a host of firsts.
Breaking will debut as an Olympic event. Gender parity will reign for the first time, with as many women competing as men . And given that the Games are being held in France, it's perhaps no surprise that the Olympic Village will also become home to the world's biggest restaurant .
Feeding 15,000 international athletes from 208 territories and nations is a gargantuan task, with 200 cooks ready to prepare more than 40,000 meals each day, both in the Olympic Village restaurant and at 14 competition sites throughout the city. During the two 15-day periods of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, more than 13 million meals will be served – the equivalent of the amount of food provided at 10 football World Cups. The Cité du Cinéma film studio complex in Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, will be the nexus of this culinary feat.
Here, athletes will have access to six main areas devoted to French, Asian, Afro-Caribbean and world cuisine, with 500 different recipes catering to a wide variety of tastes. Menus were prepared in collaboration with former French sailor and bronze medalist Hélène Defrance (now a nutritionist), who focused her expertise on helping deliver "an overall pleasurable, nourishing offering that would sat.
