What will Olympic guests eat in Beijing in 2008?
Auntie Su dumplings or beef noodles for breakfast, and Peking
duck, abalone or Xinjiang roast lamb for dinner?
These are just several ideas being floated by chefs from across
the country as Beijing counts down to the Olympic Games.
The Chinese Cuisine Association (CCA) is helping Games
organizers work out menus for the tens of thousands of athletes and
officials who will visit Beijing in 2008.
"We hope our food ideas for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will
meet the international standard and at the same time showcase
China's unique cuisine," said Xu Yunfei, director of the CCA's
Development Department.
More than 60 catering firms displayed around 180 dishes at the
CCA's recent "Exhibition of the recommended menu for the Beijing
2008 Olympic Games" in Xi'an. The dishes included a variety of
Chinese food ranging from beef noodles to abalone and shark
fin.
"The aim of the exhibition is to show the richness of Chinese
food, and we have included both traditional dishes and also new
ones," said Xu.
According to CCA officials, those items on display were selected
from more than 1,800 dishes offered by catering companies from all
over the country.
"Sending out invitations for the exhibition, we got feedback
from thousands of our associated companies," said Xu. "We selected
the dishes after careful examination of several aspects such as
their technical requirement, cooking method and cultural
content."
The country's food industry association is eager to contribute
to the upcoming Olympic Games.
At the end of last year the association wrote to BOCOG to
express its willingness to contribute to the Games catering. BOCOG
invited the association to participate in the process.
"In their reply, BOCOG agreed to co-operate with us in catering
services. They asked us to recommend menu items, predict the
supplies needed to cater for the event and recommend experts to
appraise the menu," Xu said.
According to Xu, the CCA will propose a menu to BOCOG soon, but
the final choice will be up to BOCOG and the International Olympic
Committee.
"According to the IOC requirement, Western food will comprise 70
per cent of the final menu for the Games with the remaining 30 per
cent to be Chinese food," Xu said. "The menu for a week in the
Olympic village will be different every day. In the international
zone of the village there will be an exhibition centre to showcase
Chinese food to let people know more about China's cuisine
culture."
Although China is famous for its diverse culture around food, Xu
pointed out that it lacks standard cooking procedures.
"Most of the Chinese dishes lack scientific and standard cooking
processes, which makes it hard to ensure the quality of the food,"
said Xu. "That may be one of the obstacles to the dishes being
approved by the IOC."
BOCOG is currently selecting the catering suppliers for the
Games.
"We began selecting catering service suppliers in April and the
final menu will be decided in line with which suppliers we select,"
said Xiang Ping, vice-director of BOCOG's Games Services
Department.
(China Daily November 10, 2006)