Food shortage at Paris 2024 Olympic athletes' village

The 2024 Olympic Village covers an area of ​​approximately 53 hectares and is located in three communes in the northern suburbs of Paris, including Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis and L'Ile-Saint-Denis. This project will house approximately 10,500 athletes during the Olympic period.

Despite its grandeur, this year's Olympic athletes' village is facing a difficult and essential problem as soon as the event opens: lack of food.

Organisers want to offer more vegetarian options to reduce carbon emissions, but these don’t suit the tastes and nutritional needs of many athletes. As a result, items like grilled chicken and eggs are often out of stock.

Host country France also wants to use the Olympics to showcase their cuisine. According toNew York Times, a bakery set up right in the athletes' village, providing more than 2,000 different types of bread every day. In addition, there are desserts such as lemon tarts and Paris-Brest cakes. However, these dishes were not as well received as expected.

Many athletes have had to buy food from outside to bring into the village, both to meet their needs and to avoid having to sit in the dining hall, which can accommodate around 3,000 people. One British athlete said the food situation in Paris was chaotic, in stark contrast to the professionalism at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Unconvinced of the host country’s ability to provide food, many teams brought food from home. The US, which is always strict about nutrition, sent tons of protein shakes, pretzels, popcorn, beef jerky, energy bars and peanut butter to Paris. The British team rented a culinary college about 15 km from the athletes’ village to cook and serve meals to their athletes during the Games. The British Olympic Committee also brought its own nutritionist to this facility to directly supervise and check every step.

Ireland, worried about the quality of French oatmeal, decided to bring its own. Japan even created a special soup for athletes, developed by food company Ajinomoto, with plenty of miso.

Vietnamese athletes had no problem adapting to the food supply provided by the organizers. The biggest problem for Vietnam was spices, which were fully provided.

In response to the athletes' complaints, the kitchen at the Olympic Village said it had received the information and would adjust the nutritional content accordingly. A source toldTimes of Londonthat the issue is taken seriously and the kitchen is working to increase supply to restaurants within the village.

The Paris Olympic Village provides around 40,000 meals a day. According to the Organizing Committee, chefs serving at the athletes' village at the Paris 2024 Olympics are Michelin-certified. However, some British athletes have said they were served undercooked meat.

In addition to food, the Paris Olympic Village has been criticized for its lack of facilities. Some teams have complained about the lack of air conditioning, which the organizers decided to remove to reduce carbon emissions. However, this has made it difficult for athletes to cope with the hot summer weather.

To overcome this, many sports teams have installed portable air conditioners to ensure the health of their athletes. The British sports team spent about 90,000 USD to install this system, according toGuardian.