An Olympics Chef Gives Us an Inside Look at the Plant-Based Menu She’s Serving at the Paris 2024 Games
Ever since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose Paris, France, in 2017 as the host city for the 2024 Summer Olympics, every detail of the event has been painstakingly deliberated, down to the food served at each event.
That's where Carrie Solomon, an American chef based in Paris who has spent the last 20 years learning the ins and outs of French cuisine, comes into play (pun intended). Solomon—who's also cookbook author of Bohème Cooking: French Vegetarian Recipes—is one of the few chefs selected to craft the menus featured at Stade Roland-Garros, a legendary sports venue that will host several Olympic competitions this summer, including tennis.
Her style of cooking aligns nicely with Paris' approach to food at the Summer Games (where it's estimated that about 13 million meals and snacks will be served): The focus is on plant-based, local, and sustainable food to help slash the event's overall carbon footprint while celebrating modern French cuisine.
Ahead, Solomon shares her journey to becoming an Olympics chef, the inspiration behind the Olympics menus she carefully developed, and exactly what she’ll be serving during the Games.
How she became a chef at the Olympics
Solomon’s journey to become an Olympics chef began over a year ago. Unsurprisingly: “There were a lot of people who wanted to cook for the Olympics,” Solomon says.
In order to vie for a coveted spot in the event, Solomon and her fellow contenders competed in a labor-intensive, Chopped-style food competition. “There was a pretty involved process where we had to present a full menu with several options from morning to night,” she says.
The judges requested each chef stay anonymous during the contest, to keep the focus entirely on the food. “We were not allowed to wear our chef vests. We had to be nameless. Nobody could know who we were as we were cooking and everyone had to cook in the same kitchen so the stakes were the same for all the chefs,” Solomon says. “I've never been on a cooking show, but it kind of felt like what I would imagine one of those stressful challenges might [be like],” she adds.
After winning her spot and spending nearly a year researching and developing recipes for the competition, Solomon was finally given the opportunity to be a part of the Official Hospitality, Paris 2024 Olympics. “It’s a huge honor,” Solomon says. Especially because she was asked to develop not one, but three menus for the Games.
The inspiration behind her Olympics menus
Solomon put a lot of thought and consideration into carefully developing the three Olympics menus she was chosen to make. From a technical perspective, there were a few things she kept in mind while designing each dish, such as the seasonality of the ingredients, how comfortable it would be to eat (especially when standing or on-the-go), and whether it would taste good regardless of temperature fluctuations.
“I had to imagine that people would be eating it during the summertime or that they were going to be standing, and might get really caught up in the match and walk away from their food and then come back,” Solomon says. “Those kinds of issues really had an impact on the food that I was making,” she says, which is why you’ll find a lot of refreshing options on the menu to accommodate the hot summer weather.
What’s on her Olympics menus
Spectators attending events at the Roland-Garros site will be able to enjoy Solomon’s all-vegetarian cuisine during the two weeks of the Paris 2024 Olympics events. The “Gold” menu is a combination of Solomon’s interpretation of classic dishes balanced with a few creative twists.
Although there’s no set theme to the menu, Solomon said the main goal was “to really show the finest of French produce and of seasonal, more elevated cooking.” That said, Solomon also took creative liberty to craft a menu that speaks to her ingenuity as a global chef. “I know that my menu definitely does show who I am in a sense, and I think that there's little glimpses of the fact that my whole life has not been spent in France,” she says.
One example that highlights Solomon’s unique background is the non-traditional French toast brioche with strawberries, elderflower syrup, and whipped mascarpone you’ll find on the menu. “There are definitely some offerings that aren't typical French breakfast. The French invented so many things that other countries have always played around with, and I think French toast is one of those,” Solomon says. “I wanted to play on some classics,” she adds.
Here’s a more in-depth look at what’s on the menu:
- Poached egg, fava beans, snow peas, sabayon, basil
- Mini Dauphiné ravioli PGI, white mushrooms, lovage gremolata
- Summer cauliflower, navy beans, rich truffle jus, white summer truffle (vegan)
- Chilled tomato and bell pepper soup, lovage, pickled cucumber (vegan)
- Green asparagus, Caesar-style beurre blanc sauce, capers, Comté cheese PDO
- French toast brioche, strawberries, elderflower syrup, whipped mascarpone
- Bircher muesli, oatmilk, rose-infused quinoa (vegan)
- Bircher muesli, oat milk, chocolate, sesame cream, blueberries (vegan)
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