The idea that the Olympics could be, to use a junk adjective, “sustainable” is about as absurd as the notion that a rib-eye steak (from a cow, not a lab) could be a vegan treat. Nevertheless, like many religious or quasi-religious movements, climate fundamentalism attaches great importance to public displays of faith. It is not enough to believe: Believers, not least for messaging purposes, must be seen to believe, thus the insistence that the Paris Olympics must be a standard-bearer in the war against climate change.
And so (via the Washington Post):
What does a city proud of its culinary reputation, but also committed to hosting a climate-conscious Olympics, serve to thousands of athletes seeking peak performance? It’s been a tricky balance at the Olympic Village, where caterers are preparing 40,000 meals a day.
Chefs with Michelin stars helped design the menus, and Paris 2024 organizers have emphasized all the plant-based and locally sourced offerings that minimize the carbon footprint of these Games. Among the options in and around the cavernous food hall for athletes are twisted artichoke-truffle croissants, lentil dal and beefless bourguignon.
Good lord (looks at dog food with new respect).
Sydney Smith, a 19th-century clergyman, writer, and wit, once said that his idea of heaven was “eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.” His idea of hell, I suspect, might have had room for twisted artichoke-truffle croissants, lentil dal, and beefless bourguignon.
Olympic athletes have more clout than will be enjoyed by future citizens of net-zero world, penned in their 15-minute exercise yards, and allowed, maybe, a sausage or two on special holidays as a supplement to their usual diet of greenery and that luckless Mr. Renfield’s leftovers.
And so:
Sodexo Live, the French company responsible for catering in the athletes’ village and many of the Olympic competition venues, said Monday that it had adjusted supplies in response to athlete feedback and consumption patterns in the early days of the Games.
“Certain products, such as eggs and grilled meats, are particularly popular among athletes, so their quantities have been immediately increased,” the company said in a statement.
However, net-zero world will, in many, many respects, be a world of limits and thus rationing. And where there is rationing, the divisions between the in-group and those outside it widen (as anyone familiar with the way that communist states typically operate would recognize):
While plant-based meals account for 60 percent or more of what spectators can buy at Olympic venues, they represent about 30 percent of what’s on offer in the Olympic Village, according to the caterers. That remains true after the supply adjustments, Sodexo Live said.
In other food news, Politico reports on a state dinner organized last year by President Macron, defender of the planet, for another defender of the planet, that notorious neo-feudalist ascetic deluxe Prince King Charles:
A decadent dinner costing nearly €475,000 for the U.K.’s King Charles III helped push France’s Élysée Palace — the office of President Emmanuel Macron —to a record high deficit last year. . . .
Macron hosted the British head of state in September last year at Versailles, historical home of the French monarchy, for a star-studded feast with at least 160 invitees including Rolling Stones’ singer Mick Jagger and British actor Hugh Grant.
The dinner, during which guests enjoyed blue lobster and rose macaroons cost the French presidency close to €475,000 — including over €165,000 on catering and over €40,000 on wine (including a bottle of 2004 Château Mouton Rothschild) and other drinks.
Do as they do, not as they say — preferably if someone else is paying.