By Dom Serafini
We all watched the spectacular opening ceremony of the XXXIII Summer Olympiad in Paris on Friday, July 26, 2024, which was rendered even more cinematic by the pouring rain and made even more dramatic by the French Rail sabotage. One of these was predicted, while the other was unpredicted.
But there was another unpredicted element — rejection of the French food by some sports delegations, especially by the British, as indicated by a recent Wall Street Journal article.
On May 2, 2024, VideoAge‘s Water Cooler published “Feeding TV Folks of Concern to France,” an article by Mike Reynolds, a Brit living in Los Angeles, who actually praised French cuisine and outlined the Olympic menu.
According to the Journal, “Britain’s Olympic team has run into issues with both the quality and quantity of the food in the Olympic Village.” Norway, too, had problems with the French food, while the Italians solved the problem by bringing their own chef (David Oldani) to cook traditional Italian meals at Casa Italiana, the country’s Olympic retreat.
Apparently, the problem was created by the rejection of the strict “green” diet, which caught by surprise both Carrefour, the group in charge of supplies, and Sodexo Live, the company in charge of food service at the Olympic Village.
However, this food controversy did not surprise this writer. In the 45 years that I’ve ben traveling to France at least twice a year (and at times even more), I still have not been able to find French dishes that satisfy me the way, for example, Mexican, Turkish, and Japanese food, do. I have only been able to find one French dish that I enjoy: Soupe á L’oignon (onion soup), but unfortunately it is no longer served at French restaurants (at least the ones I recently visited in Cannes and Lille). Now, in order to avoid pigeons, brain, and rare steak, I go for Salad Nicoise, which is not as good as Greek Salad, but will do in a pinch.
Pictured above, French President Emmanuel Macron at the Paris Olympic Village cafeteria.
Leave A Comment