Only 633 days 'til opening ceremonies.
Do you know what the Lithuanian Luge Team is having for dinner?One thing's for sure, when the 2002 Winter Games begin in Salt Lake City, they won't be gagging down an institutional-type plate of pitiful pasta or verboten veggies.
Exciting things are already simmering out here in the West.
Salt Lake Olympic Committee director of food services Don Pritchard is busy seeing to that. The veteran executive conference event chef is already up to his elbows in macaroni (sorry) and such, making sure that when 2002 rolls around, the athletes housed in the University of Utah's Olympic Village won't leave here with memories of magnificent mountains and bland buffets.
The prospect of dishing out high-quality, affordable food-and-beverage service to 100,000 or so people daily during the Winter Games is a mind-blower. To combat the culinary blahs prevalent at previous Olympic venues, Pritchard has developed a Specialty Chef Program that will engage up to 60 local, regional and national celebrity chefs to create special foods and entertain the athletes at the Olympic Village and the sponsor pavilions.
Christopher Young, assistant executive chef of the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, was brought on board the SLOC group last August to help Pritchard apply his culinary ideas to an Olympic event.
"The two of us started kicking this around," Pritchard said. "The initial idea was that we wanted to do something for the athletes that was unique . . . we wanted to think about the athletes that come here -- it really is all about them."
Both wanted to make sure the athletes had a memorable experience about the food that centered around the Games, so they took a different approach from the usual cafeteria-style mind-set. They realized that young people 16, 17 or 18 years old aren't really going to get a chance to see the U.S.A. in their Chevrolet, or get to see Philadelphia or Chicago -- or to experience some of the foods that are American.
This line of thinking started them down a road that led to James Beard.
"We contacted the James Beard Foundation, who thinks of food as a cultural experience. They absolutely could care less about money," Pritchard said with a laugh. "They are 100 percent passionate about the things they do to showcase the heart of American cuisine and to let the world understand what American food is."
The Beard Foundation was excited about the opportunity to take part in the Olympics -- something it had never done before.
The James Beard Foundation is sending out coveted invitations to celebrity chefs across the country. Among the 48 sent thus far, Norm Van Aken (Norman's) and Daniel Bouloud (Daniel) have joined the team. Plans for a cookbook are in the works -- a first for the foundation -- one that will feature easy-to-prepare recipes from the specialty chefs along with stellar Utah chefs.
Pritchard and Young, along with two other specialty team members, recently cooked for food writers while telling chefs tales about preparing for the Olympian foodfest that lies ahead. The others are Young's brother, Stephen, who attended Johnson and Wales University in Providence , R.I., and is executive chef at the Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas, and -- adding a balsamic blast to the mix -- chef Vittorio Minichiello, native of Avellino, Italy, and owner of Sal's by Victor Restaurants in Williamsburg, Va.
They served "a little bit of this and that" . . . a simple little offering of Grilled Chilean Sea Bass; Asian Fusion Salad with Crab, Seaweed, Grilled Zucchini and Sweet Chili Paste; Bruschetta; Fresh Asparagus Frittata with Basil; Hummus with Roasted Garlic and Pita Bread; Candied Walnuts with Blue Cheese; Macerated Strawberries and Kiwi in Maraschino; Fusilli with Shrimp and lots of charm.
A hint of things to come for well-deserving Olympians who will be housed and fed in the Olympic Village in 2002.
So, while we forced ourselves to taste-test the fancy fare, Pritchard told the tale of the hot dog.
It's true . . . honest.
Chef Pritchard wants to do fun things with foods that will not only focus on American regional cuisine but will also serve as a reminder of the West. Recognizing that the Games might not be back here in the States for perhaps 12, 14 or even 16 years, he wanted to think up something that would make the Games memorable.
He started with the hot dog. . . . A truly American item that sometimes gets a bad rap.
One of the Olympic suppliers -- Certified Angus Beef -- came to mind. Why not a Certified Angus Beef Hot Dog?
"So we began about a year-and-a-half ago eating hot dogs from all over the country," Pritchard said. "Finally, we ended up in Milwaukee, Wis., in a plant called Fritz Usingers, a fourth-generation sausage maker, who came over from Germany 120 years ago."
There was a lot more to this than just hot dogs, he said. "It's about stories. Culture. Experiences. It's the only plant in the world that will be able to make these special hot dogs for the Games."
After the hot-dog venue was selected, the team of chefs added three more members they had worked with over the years. Then they shifted into high gear out of pure necessity -- they would soon be going to Sydney, Australia, this summer as a teaser to Utah's 2002 Winter Olympics. (They'll leave around Labor Day and work there in two makeshift kitchens until Oct. 6.)
"It's our test event," joked Pritchard. (No kidding! Shipping 5,000 pounds of Certified Angus Hot Dogs down under would qualify, I'd say.)
But what about the bun? Wanting to give the consumers a good value for their buck (the price of the beef dog isn't being revealed until later), the dog is a quarter-pounder -- which requires a specially made roll to hold the bow-wow and all the condiments.
The search for the perfect bun ended in Lake Oswego, Ore., at the Original Oatmeal Baking Co., a specialty baking organization owned by a couple of Olympians from days gone by.
"And so when I went down there and said, 'I've got this Olympic bread idea. They said 'OK!' "
They are fanatics about quality, says Pritchard.
Bite factor was key. The bakers finally came up with what is like a New England potato roll. It should be hitting our local grocery shelves in three or four weeks, alongside the "Official Beef Brand of the Olympic Winter Games 2002 hot dogs."
If all this seems over the top -- there's more. . . .
The athletes living in Olympic Village will be served the real thing when it comes to pizza from Italy. The chefs are working with a company that bought and shipped ingredients from Naples to the United States and found that the pizza tasted different from the original pie. So they had each element analyzed and discovered a difference in the water. They finally found water in Northern Pennsylvania that resembled the chemical compounds found in Italy.
Hey! They needed the correct water to make-a the crust taste molto buonissimo!
Pritchard located a manufacturer in Fresno that built specialty trailers -- then went to Wolfgang Puck's Las Vegas Spago Restaurant and measured his wood-burning ovens. The ovens will be built and installed in the trailers so that authentic wood-fired pizza can be served during the Games in the Olympic Village.
And yes, the water will be shipped from Pennsylvania to Salt Lake City in five-gallon pails.
If the athletes have a bad day in their event, or just want to kick back and celebrate "being there," the comfort of extraordinary food will be waiting for them . . . like the gold.
No doubt about it . . . authentic food prepared with flourish and flair by "star chefs" will be a highlight of the Olympian's experience at the 2002 Winter Games.
Oh, to be Picabo!
ASIAN ANGEL HAIR SALAD
3 cups coarsely chopped bok choy
1 cup julienne-cut or preshredded carrot
1 cup fresh snow peas
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup low-salt soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
4 cups hot cooked angel hair pasta (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta), cooked without salt or fat
2 cups diced cooked white and dark turkey
1 cup diagonally sliced green onions
4 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted
Cook first three ingredients in boiling water 1 minute. Drain; rinse under cold water. Drain well; let cool.
Combine hoisin sauce and next five ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Add bok choy mixture, pasta, turkey and green onions; toss well. Spoon mixture onto plates; sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 cup salad and 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds).
Each serving contains 256 calories, 5g fat, 16g protein, 34g carb, 496mg sodium, 28mg cholesterol. From Weight Watchers Magazine
THAI MARINATED-CHICKEN SALAD
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup quartered mushroom
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon peeled minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon chili paste
1 garlic clove, minced
4 cups chopped ready-to-eat roasted, skinned, boned chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
4 cups thinly sliced napa (Chinese) cabbage
4 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
1/2 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
1 cup yellow or red bell pepper strips
1 (4 ounce) package alfalfa sprouts
Heat vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; saut