The menu which contains 678 dishes from 12 global Regions, was released on last Saturday by the China Central Television (CCTV) in a program together with the Beijing Organizing Committee. The appearance of the athletes' menu was full of creativity. It was slowly opened by a starting device based on ancient Chinese ice books. As you can see the picture as below, the Chinese character‘运动员菜单’(athletes' menu )showed on the cover.
Athlete's menu with 678 specialty dishes
In terms of catering services, no matter for the service standards, serving time or content of the three Winter Olympic Villages of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou are same. There are a total of 678 special dishes from all over the world. Approximately 200 dishes are provided for athletes every day, and the dishes will be rotated in every 8 days. It's worth noting that a total of 48 commonly used spices such as pepper and bay leaves will be left out of the meals to avoid false positives on doping tests, according to Yang Chen, chef of the Yanqing Village, one of three competition areas for the Winter Olympics.
"It will satisfy the eating habits of athletes of different religious beliefs, providing thoughtful services to athletes from all over the world," Shen Qianfan, director of the Olympic Village Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games, told CCTV. "It's a reflection of Chinese hospitality," he said.
Various Flavors of Dishes Will be Provided
The 2022 Beijing winter Olympic will be held during Chinese New Year period. So there are many traditional Chinese foods will be provided. The menu will include famous local dishes varying from Sichuan and Hunan cuisines for their spicy flavor, to rather light Cantonese food, allowing global athletes to fully experience the Chinese cuisine.
Besides, the menu is designed with both Chinese and Western food, and compared with the Chinese food, the variety of western food is more plentiful. Just for pizza, there are nine different flavors. And there are more than 400 kinds of ingredients will be used for cuisine. The menu is formulated by a team of experts in sports, nutrition, and catering on ingredients, specifications, and production processes, and it is finally formulated and completed under the guidance of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee. As for environmental concerns, the restaurant will use biodegradable cutlery to create a green and environmentally friendly Winter Games.
Some Epidemic Prevention Measures will be taken during the time
In response to the need for the prevention of COVID-19, some measures will be taken during the meal time for athletes. The disinfection supplies such as masks, gloves, alcohol cotton pads and hand-washing disinfectants are placed at the entrance and exit of the restaurant and at the food distribution area.
After entering the canteen, there is an intelligent guidance robots to provide consulting and guidance services. Each floor of the restaurant is equipped with a space sterilization instrument, which separates humans and machines to reduce personnel contact. Also the main restaurant for athletes is equipped with a heat map display at the entrance, which displays the number of people dining in real time, it is very convenient for athletes to judge when they choose to dine off-peak. During the Winter Paralympics, more barrier-free catering services will be added to athletes’ restaurants, moveable seats will be added, Braille menus will be designed, and dishes will be marked in large size.
Beijing Winter Olympics athlete menu(partial)
Chinese food
Main Dishes: Stir-fried Beef with Green Pepper, Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs, Stir-Fried Beef with Celery, Spicy Deep-fried Chicken, Braised Pork Belly, Poached Sliced Beef in Hot Chili Oil, West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce, Stir-fry Beef and etc.
Soups: Cucumber Egg Soup, West Lake Beef Soup, Winter Melon Sea Rice Soup, Corn Rib Soup, Mushroom Soup, Hot and Sour Soup, Tomato Egg Soup, Minced Chicken and Corn Soup
Flour-made Dishes: Corn steamed buns, fresh milk steamed buns, steamed bean paste buns, barbecued pork buns, custard buns, vegetarian fried dumplings, vegetarian buns, steamed dumplings.
Asian-styled food
Main Dishes: Teriyaki Chicken Chop, Japanese Tonkatsu, Korean Kimchi Stir-fried Pork Belly, Japanese Beef, Japanese Curry Seafood, Korean BBQ, Japanese Curry Chicken, Korean Spicy Sauce Fried Cuttlefish.
Main Course: Fried udon noodles with vegetables, white rice (Japanese sushi rice), Japanese ginger slices (white), Japanese ginger slices (powder), wasabi.
Western-styled food
Eggs: Spinach egg roll, original omelet, ham omelet, cheese omelet, tomato omelet, mushroom omelet
Pizza: Smoked Chicken Pizza, Pepperoni Pizza, Corn Ham Pizza, Bacon and Onion Pizza, Mushroom Pizza, Beef Pizza, Prawn Pizza, Salami Pizza
Pasta: Italian screw noodles, Italian inclined tube noodles, Italian butterfly noodles, Italian straight tube noodles, Italian pasta
(gluten-free)Sauces: Beef sauce, tomato sauce, cheese powder, green sauce
Many online Chinese people express that they are wanting to taste the cuisine which listed on the menu. Some poeple even wants to buy a ticket, only wish to have a meal there. 'I wish I am a athlete!' 'How can I eat them if I am not a one of the athletes?' people said. That is really interesting.
Further reading:
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Souvenirs
Introductions of The Medals for 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
