Team Korea's bring-your-own-meals approach sets trend amid Olympic food woes

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Team Korea's bring-your-own-meals approach sets trend amid Olympic food woes

Published: 30 Jul. 2024, 20:15 Updated: 31 Jul. 2024, 16:31

SARAH KIM
kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr

Chefs and nutritionists prepare lunch boxes for the table tennis and gymnastics teams at the Team Korea Paris Platform in Fontainebleau in France on July 21 during the pre-Game training period ahead of the Paris Olympics. [NEWS1]

Reports of hungry athletes left unsatisfied by the meager meatless meals provided at the Olympic Village during the ongoing Paris Summer Games have made headlines worldwide.

But food is not an issue for South Korea's athletes competing in the 2024 Summer Games, as their culinary and nutritional needs are being catered to a tee by a team of 15 Korean chefs flown into France for the Olympic period.

Complaints by British athletes about the lack of eggs, chicken and meat have made international headlines since before Friday's opening ceremony, bringing attention to the pitfalls of Paris trying to reduce the carbon footprint of meals at the Olympics.

Andy Anson, chief executive of the British Olympic Association, told The Times newspaper last Thursday that the Olympic Village's food was "inadequate" and that "a dramatic improvement" was needed.

In addition to the lack of protein and "certain carbohydrates," he raised concerns over the "quality of the food," such as raw meat being served to athletes.

Korean chefs prepare healthy lunch boxes for athletes at the Olympic Village at the meal service center set up at the Team Korea Paris Platform in Fontainebleau in France on July. [YONHAP]

Unlike other countries belatedly scrambling to hire their own chefs and caterers amid the food shortage fiasco, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) had already assured its athletes were eating well thanks to its meal service center at the Team Korea Paris Platform at the French National Center of Defense Sports in Fontainebleau.

The KSOC set up the Korea camp on the outskirts of Paris to support its athletes with training facilities, a dining hall and medical and treatment centers.

Starting on July 21, a week before the opening ceremony, the KSOC has been delivering Korean-style lunch boxes to the Olympic Village in Paris.

Team Korea's cafeteria banner reads: "Taegeuk warriors who eat well, carry the hope of the Republic of Korea."

The catering team's first batch of dosirak, or packaged meals, featured familiar and nutritional dishes, including egg rolls, stir-fried anchovies, spicy pork, braised black beans and broccoli. These banchan, or side dishes paired with rice, were ladled onto metal trays with lids that can be snapped on and off as spill-proof, reusable containers.

The lunch boxes were sent out for the South Korean gymnastics and table tennis teams, who arrived earlier than other athletes at the Olympic Village.

These meals are prepared by a team of culinary experts and dietitians flown in from Korea's Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong to the makeshift kitchen in Fontainebleau to provide tasty and healthy dishes.

Korean chefs and nutritionists prepare lunch boxes for the national table tennis and gymnastics teams at the Team Korea Paris Platform in Fontainebleau in France on July 21 during the pre-Game training period ahead of the Paris Olympics. [NEWS1]

Korean chefs and nutritionists portion side dishes into lunch boxes at the Team Korea Paris Platform in Fontainebleau in France on July 21. [NEWS1]

Throughout the Olympic period, the meal center plans to deliver 4,000 meals, including lunch boxes, supplemented by convenient and nutritional snacks tailored to the needs of each sports event to the national team athletes.

In addition to sourcing meat, vegetables and fruits from France, the culinary team has airlifted 1.5 tons of rice and grains, half a ton of kimchi and other seasonings from Korea.

A KSOC official described the culinary team as "elite members" and "veteran chefs from the athletes' village cafeteria" in Jincheon.

South Korean athletes have given positive feedback so far to their catered meals. Veteran Korean fencer Gu Bon-gil of the men's sabre team told reporters, "When I arrived at the pre-Games training camp, it literally felt like we had moved Jincheon to Paris."

"When I previously competed in Europe, I had a hard time over food," Korean freestyle swimming star Hwang Sun-woo said. "But as we have excellent Korean food here, I've had no problem adapting."

Team Korea's treat-filled athletes' lounges at their temporary home at the Olympic Village are also said to be the envy of other athletes.

An athletes’ lounge for Team Korea is filled with snacks and instant meals, including ramyeon, at the Paris Olympic Village located in Saint-Denis, France, on July 23.

A view of the South Korean athletes' lounge terrace at the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis, France. [NEWS1]

They function as a convenience store of sorts, supplied with a variety of Korean instant food, including ramyeon, kimchi, canned tuna and microwaveable rice and side dishes. The KSOC airlifted the food from local Korean supermarkets.

One of the five lounges has a terrace overlooking the Seine and is emerging as a popular photo zone for athletes as they relax and snack.

Korean athletes say other countries' teams have especially fallen for the spicy appeal of Samyang's Buldak Ramen juxtaposed to the bland cafeteria food.

An on-the-go lunch box filled with rice balls, side dishes and fruit is provided to Korean athletes at the Paris Olympics in a photo provided by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. [YONHAP]

Where to find kimchi at the Paris Olympics. A refrigerator at the athletes’ lounge for Team Korea is filled with kimchi and bottled water at the Paris Olympic Village located in Saint-Denis, France, on July 23. [NEWS1]

Concerns over food quality and quantity come as the Paris Organizing Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games said it plans to significantly reduce the proportion of meat in meals while doubling the amount of plant-based foods.

This is part of its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, as some 13 million meals will be served to athletes, volunteers and spectators during the Olympic period. Thus, some of the meals provided at the Olympic Village were to be 100 percent vegetarian.

Team Korea, however, is no stranger to bringing its own catered meals to international sports events.

For the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, the KSOC similarly set up a meal service center at a hotel on the outskirts of Tokyo to provide lunch boxes to South Korean athletes at the Olympic Village.

This came amid concerns about produce being served from Fukushima, the site of a nuclear power plant meltdown following a tsunami and earthquake in March 2011.

At the time, Tokyo balked at Seoul's decision to opt out of its dining program, but the KSOC has followed the practice in previous Games as well, including the 2012 London Olympics, catering to athletes' desire to eat Korean food.

After all, Koreans often swear that they are fueled by the food that they eat and notoriously travel with comforting instant Korean meals if they suspect they won't be able to find their local cuisine abroad.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, tries food from a salad bar while touring the Olympic Village ahead of the Summer Olympics in Paris on July 22. [AP/YONHAP]

Paris now faces the pressing task of preventing a potential culinary catastrophe and properly feeding some 15,000 international athletes from 208 territories and nations throughout the Olympics.

As international athletes' dissatisfaction with food grows in one of the world's gastronomical capitals, countries are quickly preparing alternative measures in Paris, following Team Korea's example.

So was the case for Germany, with a member of its men's hockey team calling the food at the Games "a disaster" in an interview with German news agency dpa Sunday.

In the meantime, Britain has decided to hire additional chefs to cook for its athletes.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]