In the land of gastronomy, there is no question of missing out.

Lettuce, beets, potatoes, the organizers of the Olympic Games are counting on a plate "twice as vegetable" as what is usually offered.

Serving 13 million meals and becoming "the biggest restaurant in the world" is a "big challenge", explained Wednesday Philipp Würz, catering manager of the organizing committee.

We will have to adapt to the 15,000 athletes and their diet.

All the cuisines of the world will be represented.

The organizers, who put their environmental commitment first, promise to put 80% French products on the plates of athletes and spectators, and 20% imported products (coffee, tea, cocoa).

“If you want to make organic lentils, you have to order hundreds of tons of organic lentils upstream,” explains Mr. Wurz.

In the Olympic village located in Saint-Denis, the Cité du Cinéma will house no less than 12 restaurants.

The Sodexo group was chosen to provide part of the catering, particularly in the village.

The provisional shopping list provides for pike, Loire salmon, rabbit, Saint-Nectaire, Brie de Meaux... on the Ile-de-France sites but also on other competition sites such as Marseille.

Chef Thierry Marx is taking part in the adventure and other French chefs will be asked to lend their hand.

The stated objective is to "halve the carbon footprint of the plate", i.e. to go from 2 kilos of CO2 per meal generated in France to one kilo per meal.

Hence the idea of ​​more vegetal dishes.

Of the 80% of French products, a quarter will come from "less than 250 km" from each site, and a part from organic.

On the plastic side, the idea is to halve the amount of single-use plastic.

"We work with Coca to find out how we serve the drinks," also indicated the organizers, who also plan to fight against food waste.

Asked about the tensions on agricultural prices linked to the war in Ukraine, Philipp Würz replied: "We have set our course, but there are hazards that we cannot control".

"On the price of wheat if we take 60% in the figure we will have to adjust", he explains, because there is a budget to respect.

© 2022 AFP