The Olympics were, for me, a fantastic experience. Mostly. The work, the people, and the results we got made the long hours and the downsides all well worth it. Of all the downsides, though, the only one which almost everyone would agree on is the food service that Aramark provided in the media areas.
At the Media Village there were cafeterias for our food consumption. I mostly only ate breakfast there, having lost my appetite most nights. The scrambled eggs ranged from dark, almost bruised, green to bright bright yellow. The breakfast meat was always a surprise, and ranged from very limp fatty bacon to these red Chinese sausages that might as well have been jerky — they were thoroughly over cooked.
The food at the Main Press Center was no better. The only things you could consistently count on being edible at the cafeteria were the bratwurst and the mediocre pizza. Roast duck, for instance, came sliced and wrapped with some sauce, but was somehow tasteless. Ravioli was often dry and crunchy on the edges. And a myriad of mystery meats (all grey) left me wondering if the guys walking around with chef’s hats had any actual culinary training.
How bad was the food? It was so bad, most people actually preferred McDonald’s over the cafeteria stuff. McDonald’s, in turn, did not disappoint, constantly churning out Big Macs and chicken sandwiches that tasted just like they do at home. If I don’t eat at McDonald’s for the rest of the year, it won’t be soon enough.
The most laughable thing, though, was when they ran out of salt packets (and apparently loose salt, too), at the breakfast cafeteria. I asked an English-speaking Aramark employee what the deal was, and she informed me that the salt “was stuck in customs.” Really? Does no one provide salt in China?She also suggested I use soy sauce on the eggs, instead. I was, to put it mildly, not amused.
