The food of Paris

After yesterday's heart attack in Marseille, today I didn't venture too far, making a trip to the Champ de Mars, a temporary arena constructed near the Eiffel Tower where the wrestling competition was going on. I spent a few hours there before moving on to the Stade de France for track. I learned a few nights ago that I should probably get there early, but I was probably a little too early today, but Elle St. Pierre was up first on the docket for the evening.

So I am sitting in a pretty empty Stade de France as workers prepare the field for the evening's track and field events. It's a little like Tokyo in that there's nobody in the stands yet except for the media folks who are preparing for their evening and the workers doing their stuff.

I sauntered downstairs to the media food kiosk and purchased a chicken sandwich, which got me thinking about the food this time around. For the record, the chicken sandwich was more like chicken salad, not quite what I was expecting, but I ate it anyway.

My food experience over the course of 10 years of Olympics has been very varied, to say the least. At my first Olympics in Russia in 2014, the food left a little to be desired. The McDonald's in the basement of the media center saved me that year. After that, PyeongChang in 2018 was a great surprise. In the basement of the media village there was a dining hall that served an amazing breakfast (we are provided breakfast as part of our accommodation). There was just about everything you could ask for. There was a media dining hall in the village in the mountains as well and the options were plenty. In Tokyo, we were obviously limited by COVID, which basically kept us to the Olympic area. The media center had a number of choices in the basement, which offered a little bit of everything, including a grocery store and numerous restaurants. In Beijing, the media dining hall in the main press center was much like the one in Korea, with tons of options and different kinds of food. And in the mountain press center there was a Pizza Hut and a buffet restaurant with lots of choices as well.

So, there's been some ups and downs as far as the food goes. This time around, we are in a city that is known for some great food. The problem is, I am trying to stay away from carbs as they impact my blood sugar in a bad way and in Paris, everything is a carb. The entire hotel breakfast option list is all breads, so I limit myself there. As the day wears on, I try to limit my intake as far as carbs go. 

I found a small cafe in the basement of the building that holds the main press center that makes a good sandwich and I've eaten there a few times. The cafe in the media center offers some microwaveable options, most of which are vegetarian, but they do have a chicken and rice dish that I've eaten a few times and a Caesar salad as well. The venue dining at the Stade de France has a lot of options (in addition to the chicken sandwich).

And I've ventured out a few times and had some food at different restaurants along the way, but my food tastes do not stray too far so I haven't tried anything crazy. And yes, there has been a few trips to the McDonald's near the main press center, which offers some different options, including a CBO (chicken bacon onion) sandwich that is delicious and potato wedges with cheese and bacon (surprisingly good). And I've done a fairly good job of staying away from the sweets, though the pain au chocolat has called my name a few times and the raspberry-lemon sorbet bar I had the other night was delicious.

And for drinks, Coke is an Olympic sponsor, so everything in the venues and the media center are Coke products. As they are trying to cut down on waste, they pour our drinks from bottles into recyclable plastic cups. If we return the cups, we get a deposit back, or we can keep the cups if we so desire. The cups are cool and I've collected plenty of different sports along the way (they vary from place to place). The don't have Diet Coke here, but there is Coke Zero, which I've drank more of here than ever in my life as I don't like Coke. The good news for me is that all the vending machines in the Paris Metro stations are sponsored by Pepsi, so I can get Pepsi Zero Sugar there (or in most supermarkets or convenience stores).

Time is running out on my Paris experience, but I am sure there is plenty of food left to try (or not try).

These are the cups that our soda/water is served in from the concession stands in the media center and venues. We play a two-euro deposit with each beverage purchased and can get the money back if we return the cups.