It’s enough to make Usain Bolt wake up in a cold sweat. Chicken nuggets are off the menu at Paris 2024 with Olympians instead being served Michelin-starred dishes and plant-based meat alternatives in the athletes’ village.
The Jamaican sprinter famously claimed to have eaten 1,000 nuggets over 10 days when winning 100m and 200m gold at the 2008 Beijing Games. However the 11,000 athletes in Paris will be nudged to make healthier choices, with four Michelin-starred chefs involved in preparing the food.
Dishes on offer include croissant, poached egg, artichoke cream, shavings of sheep’s cheese topped with truffle, which the two-starred Michelin chef Amandine Chaignot suggests should be eaten by hand.
According to Philipp Würz, Paris 2024’s head of food, around 1,200 Michelin-starred meals will be served a day out of 40,000 overall. He also confirmed that around 30% of the menu at the Games would also be plant-based, with soya-based nuggets offered as an alternative.
Würz admitted that French organisers were keen to raise standards after he read that 20% of athletes’ meals during the London Olympics were consumed at McDonald’s. “It’s a much healthier menu now,” he said. “With no McDonald’s, no chicken nuggets, and more healthy food.”
“Even the star chefs’ menus have been developed with sports nutritionists, so it’s very high level cuisine, still respecting what the athletes actually need,” he added.
A 3,500-seat restaurant has been built from scratch to serve meals from all over the globe and there are also six “grab and go” areas, where athletes can find snacks, a bakery and signature dishes from Michelin-starred chefs.
However athletes will not be able to wash their meals down with a nice bottle of Châteauneuf du Pape as the village has a non-alcohol policy.
“The athletes are coming into the biggest restaurant in the world,” said Würz. “They are amazed by both the architectural setup of the main dining hall, but also by the quality of the recipes and the food.
“We tried to come up with a very specific plan to harness the French knowhow, the savoir faire of the French cuisine, which of course, has a reputation all over the planet.”
Countries have, however, been allowed to make specific requests – with Team GB asking for porridge to be added to the menu and the South Koreans kimchi.
Würz added that appetites and tastes differ wildly between athletes in different sports. Beach volleyball and taekwondo teams request cold meat, sandwiches and salads, while the rowing teams require “hot buffets”. Badminton teams predominantly from Asia, he added, are “not big fans of bread” while sports “dominated by European delegations – you would then find a rather basic English, French or German style catering programme.”
“Chicken skewers or chicken fillet is very popular, and so is salmon,” added Wurz. “So for nowadays, a lot of proteins are consumed in rather impressive quantities by the athletes. But the one of the top sellers, like always, is margarita pizza.”
The boulangerie will bake 800 baguettes a day, or 6km in total across the entire Olympics and Paralympics, and Würz said that around 80% of the food in the village would be from France.
“Of course, the meat is 100% French origin,” he added. “The cheeses are high level and well-known French cheeses such as comté and brie de meaux. The same goes for pastries – a large variety of French pastries are offered to the athletes.
“We have already had so much positive feedback because this is definitely something that the athletes are not used to when compared to past editions. There is a huge variety of very special and French items that we offer.”
Athletes can also find a salad bar and a fruit stall, alongside cheese and dairy stands, desserts, soups, grills, pizzas, daily specials and pastas, and a hot buffet. However Würz conceded that some would still want to consume unhealthy food especially after they had finished competing.
“There’s definitely less junk food,” he said. “We’ve really tried to push the quality high up there. But you always have to provide, let’s say, things like hot dogs and burgers. However we do not provide those at the main dining hall, just at dedicated Grab and Go outlets.”
