2011 SU Update: Athletes embrace Different Delicacies in Shenzhen

A great variety of food in the Village restaurant (Photo: C. Pierre/FISU)

SHENZHEN – Like many of his teammates, Mexico’s Gabriel Giron missed the variety of Mexican foods like the enchiladas, tacos, tamales, menudo, pozole and burritos the minute he got onto the plane to fly to Shenzhen,China.

Travelling an incredible journey of approximately 13,398.22 kilometers to represent his country in basketball, Giron thought he was going to have a pretty uncomfortable tournament but he was shocked!

From the diverse Chinese rations to Asian to International, Muslim and Mediterranean food, all athletes have been catered for at the ongoing 26^th Summer Universiade in Shenzhen,China.

The Shenzhen Organizing Committee made sure that an astonishing 415 different food dishes are available at the Athletes’ Village courtesy of Shenzhen Jin Gu Yuan industry developed company ltd for the almost 12,000 athletes, officials, judges and referees from 152 countries in five continents.

On arrival at the Athletes’ Village, Giron toured the Village and was amazed at the availability of the variety of foods.

“It is really cool that I can have French fries here and a delicious chicken hamburger and that only makes me feel at home,” said an excited Giron.

The different foodstuffs range from 60 Chinese dishes, 47 fromAsia, a variety of 57 international kinds, 52 dishes for the Muslims and 100 Mediterranean dishes.

Chinese noodles, boiled dumplings, steamed rice and sautéed vegetables are some of the dishes that the domestic Chinese athletes are enjoying while their other Asian counterparts are more familiar with steamed pumpkin, chicken satay, steamed vegetable chicken bun among others for both lunch and dinner.

The international community has to choose from a menu with jerk pork, aubergine and potato curry with steamed rice while the Muslims will have Lebanese chicken and rice, rotisserie chicken and roast garlic mashed potato to make them comfortable.

Athletes have to also choose from a record 160 desserts from 11 categories from snacks (8), chutneys (2), cold cut (4), appetizers (14), fruits (7), sliced fruits (4), cheese (3), salads (21), salad dressing (5), salad accompaniments (4) and ice cream (7).

In addition to this, cold dishes like milk/yoghurt are served in six different ways, sandwiches (3), breads (16), dessert (17), dry fruit (8), cookies (5) and condiments (22) while coffee and tea have not been left out of the menu list.

African athletes also embraced the idea of having McDonalds and the various food stuffs whenever they are not comfortable having the international dishes.

Patrick Kawuma, a Ugandan chess player revealed that, “This is good for me because sometimes I really want to have some fast food but otherwise even the other food is great.”

Costa Rica’s Natasha Campos revealed that she likes the idea of trying out the different kinds of foods that are available in Shenzhen. “I like it. I love it. I definitely want to try out as many different dishes as possible”, revealed a relaxed Campos.

Meanwhile, a Nutrition kiosk where eight guidance volunteers are available to help allergic athletes to any of the ingredients in any of the food dishes is also part of the dining hall.

(Source: Usher Komugisha, FISU Young Reporter/Uganda)