2024 Paris Olympics food by the numbers: 500 recipes, 11,000 baguettes, 3M bananas and more
People are going bananas for the Olympics.The Paris Summer Olympics 2024 will run from July 26 through August 11, and it’s all about the numbers, with 10,500 athletes from 206 countries participating in 329 events in total, according to ESPN.But the numbers get even more elaborate when it comes to the food: 40,000 meals per day, 3 million bananas and 80,000 pounds of coffee grounds.The food provider, Sodexo Live!, and the chefs feeding the athletes at Olympic Village have quite the task of feeding the entire support staff in the Village plus the 10,500 athletes who are relying on food for fuel — putting pressure on these chefs to provide food for athletes to eat both before and after competing and help them perform at their best.“Literally welcoming the people from around the world, 206 nations, is insane,” Estelle Lamotte, Sodexo Live! director of Athletes’ Village operations, told Delish.“It is going to be quite fun to see all the different athletes around the village, seeing the culture.
That is why they call it a village.”The 500 recipes being served are more than just a meal.A lot of logistics go into the preparation of food at the Olympics, such as nutritional needs, sustainable sourcing, diversity of options, culinary traditions from around the world and so on.The tricky part is there’s no one-size-fits-all diet for Olympic athletes.
Some load up on carbohydrates while others prefer a high-protein, low-sugar diet, so Olympic Village dining needs to have it all: a wide range of both white and red meat, rice, pasta, nuts, yogurts, lean proteins, whole-grain bread, fruits, vegetables and electrolyte-rich fluids.The executive chef of Olympic Village, Charles Guilloy, has a goal to “meet the nutritional needs of the 15,000 athletes taking part in the Games, while respecting the eating and tasting habits of over 200 nationalities…to make the athletes feel right at home and to perform,” he told Food & Wine.“For athletes, there is certai...