And if the OLYMPIANS think it's hard...

...imagine what it's like for the rest of us! I found this article amusing.

Sports / Other Sports

Wary U.S. Olympians Will Bring Food to China

By BEN SHPIGEL

The U.S. Olympic Committee has tried to figure out how to avoid the danger of tainted food at the Summer Games.

And in case you're like me and rarely/never click on links, here are some of my favorite passages:

COLORADO SPRINGS — When a caterer working for the United States Olympic Committee went to a supermarket in China last year, he encountered a piece of chicken — half of a breast — that measured 14 inches. “Enough to feed a family of eight,” said Frank Puleo, a caterer from Staten Island who has traveled to China to handle food-related issues.

“We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive.”

In preparing to take a delegation of more than 600 athletes to the Summer Games in Beijing this year, the U.S.O.C. faces food issues beyond steroid-laced chicken. In recent years, some foods in China have been found to be tainted with insecticides and illegal veterinary drugs, and the standards applied to meat there are lower than those in the United States, raising fears of food-borne illnesses.

....

“It’s all a matter of how and when you work it (Local Food) into your diet,” he said.

Sometimes, the athletes do not have a choice. Mr. Korzun recounted several times when teams competing in foreign countries were presented with culinary challenges. The triathlon team encountered a dish called “Be Dental Alveoli Quick to Salad Bangkok Hot Paddle Fish,” during a meet in Thailand. And the men’s weight lifting team was served barbecued guinea pig before a competition in Peru.

Myles Porter, who is hoping to earn a spot on the judo team for the Paralympic Games, said he lost about 20 pounds during the Para Pan-American Games in Brazil because he ate mostly pasta.

“You can’t just eat that for two weeks and expect to be at your best,” Mr. Porter said.

To limit those occurrences, Tyson has provided all United States team members with duffel bags containing a hot pot, a power adaptor, recipes and replenishable pouches of chicken that they can take to international qualifying events over the next few months.

In preparation for the Olympics, Tyson will ship beef, chicken and pork to China. When the food arrives, customs agents will review the shipment — the U.S.O.C. has budgeted 10 days to complete this process — before it is delivered to U.S.O.C. representatives and taken to a holding site at Beijing Normal University. The food will remain there for about three weeks until athletes arrive.

“The security is so tight that there is pre-screening before it even gets to me,” said Terri Moreman, the U.S.O.C.’s associate director of food and nutrition services.

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The U.S.O.C. will send measuring cups because, as Ms. Hamilton noted, the United States does not use the metric system. Kellogg’s has been asked to supply cereals like Frosted Flakes and Mini-Wheats, as well as Nutri-Grain bars, because those products are not readily available in China. Finding molasses, they learned, is next to impossible. Ice? Also a challenge.

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She anticipates arriving in Beijing in mid-July to become accustomed to her new kitchen and to meet the Chinese staff that will be assisting her. By then, many of the woks will have been removed, replaced by mobile ovens and griddles,...

Once athletes are finished competing, they are free — encouraged, even — to sample the local fare. That could mean munching on live sea horses or hard-boiled fertilized duck eggs — though steering clear of adulterated chicken breasts.


All I have to say is, there have certainly been times that I've wished for a duffel bag filled with replenishable pouches of Tyson chicken...ahh, to be an Olympian...