16 Foods Athletes Will Eat At The 2024 Paris Olympic Games

While some people are thinking about sports at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, others are wondering what sort of food the athletes will get to eat. It's no small feat feeding about 15,000 hungry athletes. The restaurant facility in the Olympic Village is 46,000 square feet and built like a college cafeteria with food and drink stations galore. Among other things, the athletes are estimated to consume 2,000 baguettes and other pastries every day, while they are set to drink brews made from 20 tons of coffee. Of the food served, 80% is from France, 80% is sustainable, and 30% is organic. Plus, there's a drive toward more plant-based foods with 60% of the available meals being vegetarian.

Food service company Sodexo is relying both on French chefs from famous restaurants as well as 20 chefs from around the world to prepare food in its six restaurants. Furthermore, every region of France is represented in the facility's two French restaurants. The other restaurants represent world, Asian, or halal cuisine. While there are plenty of new things to try, teams often ship over familiar foods like ugali for the Kenyan team, oats for the Irish team's porridge, and peanut butter and energy bars for the American team.

As you can imagine, the menu for the Paris Olympics has a lot of variety. Here are 16 dishes that may make you wish you were eating in the Paris Olympic village in 2024.

Breakfast is an important meal for athletes who need fuel for upcoming Olympic events. Since muesli is a traditional breakfast food throughout Europe, it's no surprise that it's on the menu. While the varieties available may be a little unusual, we're intrigued. The first muesli recipe was created in the 1900s by Maximilian Bircher-Benner. The Swiss doctor's recipe contained oats, apples, lemon juice, nuts, and condensed milk. Today's muesli varies by brand and regionality, though it just about always involves oats that are soaked overnight.

A variety of muesli selections will be available to those competing in the Paris Olympic games in 2024. Paris-based American chef Carrie Solomon has created two vegan Bircher muesli options for athletes to enjoy for breakfast. One features rose-flavored quinoa, while the other contains chocolate and blueberries. Both are vegan options made with oat milk rather than cow's milk, and the chocolate blueberry one also contains sesame cream.

Another breakfast dish Paris Olympics athletes can enjoy is chakchouka (also often referred to as shakshuka or shakshouka). Rather than representing France, chakchouka here hails from African cuisine. Chakchouka originated in the Maghrebi region of Northern Africa and is a common dish in countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya as well as other nations such as Israel and Spain. It's even become popular in places like England and the U.S., and you can find the dish in Paris restaurants as well.

Chakchouka typically starts with tomatoes set to simmer with sautéed onions, garlic, and bell peppers. It's infused with a variety of spices and generally includes eggs poached in the sauce during the last few minutes of the cooking process. The spices often include a chili paste known as harissa, chili powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, and cumin. Sometimes, it has cilantro or parsley and cheese added on top. It's also common to eat it with bread — perhaps given the Parisian setting, that will be baguettes.

With croissants being a traditional pastry in France, Olympic athletes are surely expecting to find them on the breakfast menu. However, croissants are also available to Olympic contestants as a signature course, turned into a breakfast sandwich full of delicious ingredients. Buttery croissants have been a part of the culinary landscape of France since 1915. Their flakey outsides and soft, fluffy interiors make them the perfect vehicle for breakfast sandwich ingredients.

French chef Amandine Chaignot has dreamed up a croissant breakfast sandwich for the 2024 Olympics that includes a poached egg and truffles gussied up with goat cheese and artichoke cream. Chef Chaignot has 20 years of experience and is the chef for two Parisian restaurants. So, it's clear that she knows a thing or two about making delicious French dishes. This one will likely be a hit for those looking both for both classic croissants and calories to fuel them through morning sports events.

Being the Summer Olympics, it's the perfect time to bring out a few cold soups for the athletes. A popular chilled soup athletes will see on the menu is gazpacho. However, it's not the only such soup available.

One of the 2024 Paris Olympic dishes that Sodexo Live offered for members of the media to taste was green gazpacho. While it may not be very filling, gazpacho is known for being a refreshing summer soup. The green variety differs from traditional gazpacho in that it eschews red tomatoes in favor of green veggies like spinach, cucumbers, green peppers, and avocados. It may have green onions and garlic as well as green herbs like parsley, basil, mint, dill, and cilantro. In some recipes, yogurt, lemon juice, or vinegar add an extra kick of flavor.

Another chilled soup on the menu at the Paris Olympics is the invention of chef Carrie Solomon. She's created a vegan chilled soup featuring tomatoes, bell peppers, pickles, and lovage. Once a popular seasoning that many have stopped using, lovage is a green herb that looks and tastes a lot like parsley with flavorful hints of anise and celery.

Athletes looking for extra carbs and protein to help keep them going all day or to refuel may find themselves drawn to chef Stéphane Chicheri's Almado-style bread salad. This salad not only provides a source of carbs and vegetables, but it also contains protein in the form of seafood.

While it's reminiscent of a panzanella bread salad from Italy, this Almado-style bread salad is its own thing. Chef Chicheri makes his bread salad with seasoned bread cubes, pesto, seafood, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese. He starts off soaking stale bread cubes for a day or two in a pureed mixture of tomatoes, green onions, garlic, basil, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and pepper. Then he mixes the flavored bread cubes with cooked mullet fillets and prawns, cherry tomatoes, and oyster leaves (green herbs that, true to their name, taste similar to oysters). Finally, he tops the Almado-style bread salad with Parmesan shavings, pesto, and balsamic vinegar. The pesto is made with peppery rocket greens instead of basil.

Another dish that chef Carrie Solomon has created for the Paris Olympics is mini Dauphiné ravioli. It promises to be a hit with those looking for an herby vegetarian pasta dish. While most of us don't think of pasta dishes when we consider French food, ravioles du Dauphiné is a genuine southeastern French dish that has been around at least since the 1200s. This dish has become popular in the U.S. lately, appearing both in restaurants and trending on social media. It's no wonder that Solomon chose it as a dish to please Olympians' palates while they're in Paris.

The original version of this delicate ravioli dish was filled with turnip greens, but it has evolved over time. Today's Dauphiné ravioli generally contains green herbs instead of turnip greens, along with Comté cheese and a creamy sauce of some sort. Solomon's version includes white mushrooms and gremolata. Classic gremolata is made from parsley, garlic, and lemon juice. However, Solomon substitutes lovage for parsley in her version.

With a projected 60% of sandwiches and other meals at the 2024 Olympics being vegetarian, it's no surprise that falafel is among the many culinary offerings for athletes. Meat-free burgers and hot dogs clearly aren't the only vegetarian sandwich fillings available.

Falafel has multicultural appeal, and a number of countries in the Middle East claim it as their own. It will be familiar to quite a few athletes for whom it's a traditional dish in their country as well as for those who enjoy Middle Eastern food.

These fried and spiced chickpea and parsley balls can work well as a protein source whether they are served on a plate with sides or as a filling for a sandwich. Some of the falafel on menus will be the traditional type. However, there will also be Nestlé Garden Gourmet chickpea and beetroot falafels, which can take on the vibrant pink coloring of beets.

All of the meat available at the 2024 Paris Olympics comes from France. While guinea fowl originated in Africa, today it's common in French cuisine and easy to find in French markets and grocery stores. Guinea fowl tastes like very flavorful chicken or pheasant.

Chef Amandine Chaignot has created a special creamy guinea fowl dish for the Olympic athletes to enjoy. Her guinea fowl is slow-roasted with crayfish jus. After it's tender and the jus has reduced, she adds a creamy poulette sauce. Poulette is a rich, tangy sauce typically made with egg yolks, lemon, white wine or vermouth, cream, and mild herbs. It also often includes mushrooms. Athletes can choose to have it served either with gnocchi or langoustines. Yes, that's a choice of pasta or Norwegian lobsters as a side. It's not a choice that you're likely to encounter every day, but it certainly sounds interesting.

In keeping with the theme of plant-based foods at the Olympics in 2024, athletes can opt for veggie bourguignon instead of traditional French beef bourguignon. Obviously, one doesn't have to eat meat to enjoy a good bourguignon.

Traditional bourguignon originates from the Burgundy region of France, relatively close to Paris. The beef version already has a few veggies in it, traditionally including onions and carrots. While the star in the original dish has always been the beef, making it with veggies isn't that far of a leap from the original, as the sauce often stays the same.

Sodexo's chef, France's Charles Guilloy, has created a veggie version that still features all the richness of the regular dish that often comes courtesy of Burgundy or another robust red wine, stock, tomato paste, and rich herbs like thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves. However, all the meat has been replaced with a variety of seasonal vegetables, including carrots, potatoes, and peas. Leeks and shallots provide an extra layer of richness to the dish.

Another world cuisine option athletes can choose includes veggie moussaka or lamb moussaka. There are versions of moussaka found in Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and various Balkan countries, making it a dish that has wide appeal because many athletes will recognize it as a favorite from home. It likely made its way to so many countries in part because Middle Easterners introduced eggplants through wide-reaching trade networks. A recipe for a dish similar to moussaka appeared in an Arabic cookbook from the 1200s, and a modern version showed up in a Greek cookbook in 1910. 

Eggplant and ground lamb or beef are common ingredients in moussaka. They're often mixed with a spicy tomato sauce and topped with a creamy béchamel before the mix is baked. However, the fact that vegetables like zucchini and potatoes are included in some versions make it easy to reimagine this as a vegetarian dish. While we're not currently sure exactly what veggies are in the Olympic version, lentil moussakas are common for those who omit meat in the dish, as the lentils provide extra protein.

Another dish that French chef Charles Guilloy is contributing to the Parisian Olympic menu is a special sweet potato dish made with za'atar, hummus, and chimichurri. It's sure to be both filling and flavorful.

The dish combines Middle Eastern flavors and ingredients (za'atar as well as hummus) with an Argentinian sauce (chimichurri), a South and Central American vegetable (sweet potato), and a Brazilian nut (cashew).

To make the dish, each sweet potato is cut into four pieces that are roasted with olive oil and za'atar. Za'atar is a Middle Eastern spice mix made with toasted sesame seeds, sumac, and dried herbs like thyme or oregano. Two sweet potato slices are served on top of garlicky cumin- and lemon-flavored chickpea hummus and topped with cashews and flavorful chimichurri sauce. Chimichurri is typically made from parsley, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, red pepper, and white balsamic vinegar.

The cauliflower Alfredo that Olympic participants can enjoy, among other pasta dishes, is not only plant based but also vegan. However, Sodexo's American chef Jeff Leidy doesn't think anyone will miss the dairy that's traditionally used in this dish.

The cauliflower here is especially appealing because it comes in three colors: green, purple, and orange. Meanwhile, the sauce is made from cashew cream and vegan Parmesan cheese rather than the dairy equivalents that are typical in an Alfredo sauce. It also gets extra flavor from oven-roasted tomato chili threads, while the sauce contains sautéed shallots and garlic. 

This dish uses bucatini pasta, which is essentially hollow, extra-thick spaghetti, which means that the sauce not only has the opportunity to coat the outside of the pasta but also work its way into the center. This dish offers a perfect way to carb load while keeping it all vegan.

For those athletes who want a plant-based meal and enjoy the bowl experience, chef Jeff Leidy has created a farro bowl full of tasty and colorful veggies. It mixes both carbs and protein to help give athletes the energy they need to compete in their demanding sporting events.

Farro is a form of whole-grain wheat that is common in the Mediterranean and has been part of human diets for millennia. It has a hearty texture and nutty flavor that helps make the dish satisfying. Chef Leidy combines the farro with roasted veggies, summer squash, and roasted chickpeas. Then, he sprinkles toasted walnuts and pomegranate seeds over the top. The pomegranate seeds are the real star of this dish, adding an extra level of sweetness, tartness, and crunch that make it exciting. There's also a creamy sauce drizzled over the top of the vegetables. Because of the simplicity of ingredients and flavors, we expect this dish will have wide cross-cultural appeal.

Chef Jeff Leidy has also created a creamy protein and roasted veggie dish that showcases the versatility of the foods that athletes will see on offer at the 2024 Summer Olympic games. It can go either pescatarian or vegetarian depending on whether Olympic diners opt for scallops or trumpet mushrooms as the feature of this meal.

To make this dish, Leidy combines seared and caramelized scallops or trumpet mushrooms with roasted beets and sautéed asparagus tips. Trumpet mushrooms (a type of oyster mushroom) make a great substitution for the scallops because they have a similar texture to scallops when they have been cooked. However, their flavor is still distinctly mushroom-like and a little nutty, as opposed to the seafood flavor of scallops

Once everything is cooked and ready to go, the chef adds lemon zest and chives, along with citrus beurre blanc. Beurre blanc is a classic French sauce that combines butter, shallots, white wine vinegar, white wine, and heavy cream. In this case, it gets a citrus twist to enhance the acidity of the dish, making it light and perfect for summer.

As athletes push themselves to their limits in the summer heat, many will likely come into the cafeteria complex looking for something extra fresh to satisfy their hunger without weighing them down. Chef Jeff Leidy's summer citrus salad is likely to help fulfill that need

Like a Caprese salad, Leidy's creation contains basil and pearl mozzarella. However, instead of tomatoes, it includes ruby grapefruit and blood oranges, as well as refreshing watermelon. Sumac gives it a little bit of zing. Plus, it's drizzled with a zesty citrus vinaigrette and a sprinkling of pistachios. It clearly goes beyond an ordinary fruit salad by adding cheese and nuts for more texture and protein. It's admittedly not completely original, as we've seen similar citrus salad recipes made with different nuts, citrus fruits, and cheeses. However, it will surely showcase French citrus summer fruits and other ingredients in a delicious way.

At the end of a satisfying and healthy meal (or at any time their diet and inclination allows), Olympic athletes can help themselves to an array of delicious desserts in the Olympic cafeteria. One that seems especially tempting is chocolate mousse with raspberries.

Mousse has been delighting people in France since it first appeared there in the 18th century. While French cooks make all sorts of sweet and savory versions of this dish, chocolate mousses are especially popular. So, it's not surprising to find this airy dairy dessert on the menu for athletes at the Paris Olympics. Whipped ingredients like butter, good quality European chocolate, eggs, sugar, and cream make this dessert rich, delicious, and delightful.

All the fruits and vegetables served in the Olympic dining complex come from France. Since the 2024 Olympics is taking place in the middle of raspberry season in the region, chocolate mousse and raspberries will be nothing short of a perfect pairing.