A Trip to the Beijing Zoo

Today, James Stack (a Chef from Australia) and I asked the Shanghai group to join us on a day trip to the Beijing Zoo. It was a very nice day for a visit to the zoo - not too hot, not too crowded (for Chinese standards), and most of the animals were out and about. It seemed as though half of the zoo were birds; very few apes, cats, etc. However, the highlight of the day was the Giant Panda House. It was magnificent.

The Great Wall of China

Spent a wet and rainy day at the Great Wall of China, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. This section of Wall was built 1404 BC. It was a difficult 550 meter climb to reach the Wall, sometimes at an 80-degree incline. We hiked about 1 1/2 miles of the Wall; that, too, was a difficult climb. When the Wall was built soldiers used a variety of steps - depth, width, height. The view was incredible. The thought of the 3,500 years of history that took place on this very place was an incredible experience. It was an awesome day.

No Fresh Air

The pollution today is so bad in Beijing that you can't see across the street. Everytime you inhale you suck in dust and dirt particles and you can feel each and every one. It gets trapped in your chest and you gag and cough and cough and cough and cough some more.

Such has been the past few days. And today really is a day in which one can not see across the street. The pollution resembles really dense fog, but you can tell when you inhale that this is not fog.

The government has a plan, though, to clean up the air quality before the games. One month before the games begin no personal cars will be allowed on the street, only public trasportation. Also, all construction projects will have to cease and factories will have to close. They are hoping that this will clean up the air quality. I am hoping the same thing, 'cause it's really bad.

Surprising Chinese Food

There is a big surprise in Chinese food. Cumin and cilantro, staple ingredients in Latin food, are also prominent ingredients in a lot of Chinese food. Before coming to Beijing, I considered garlic, ginger, and soy sauce as Chinese staples. Well, come to find out, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce are certainly prominent. But, cumin, cilantro, sizchuan peppers, cloves, cinnamon, and star anise are just as widely used to add flavor to a variety of dishes. How these spices are used is a subject to be covered some other time.

Gearing Up For Show Time

There are three main buildings with food services: the International Braodcast Center (IBC), Media Press Center (MPC), and Athlete's Village (AV). Currently, IBC is the only building open. There are 6 eating venues in the building, two of which are open. The main dining area opens in a couple of weeks and the staff is preparing for that opening. We are currnelty feeding about 1,000 people, mostly staff, but expect to be feeding as many as 18,000 within a month or so. That kind of volume requires a considerable amount of perpartation - menu planning, recipe development, practicing, etc. A rotating 8-cycle menu with food featured from all over the world will require a great amount of practice and preparation.

And the Staff Keeps Growing

Another nine chefs arrived today at locations all around Olympic Park - three Executive Chefs and six Sous Chefs. Only a few are internationals while most of them are from China. This is still only a fraction of the management staff yet to arrive. In total, there will be about 700 managers, 230 of whom are internationals, all managing about 7,000 cooks, servers, and other food service workers. This is a world-class event staffed by a global team.

Week 2 begins

This is the second of twelve weeks for me in China and what an awesome experience it's been so far. We're starting to gear up for the influx of media and athletes. Finish carpenters are putting the final touches on the main dining area in the International Broadcast Center. We take over the kitchen by the middle of this week and start cooking on the hot line. We won't be serving anyone out of that kitchen for several days. All of the cooking we will be doing from there will be simply to teaching the Chinese how to use Western equipment and teaching them the recipes and menu items from around the world.

In the IBC main dining we will be serving pizza, pastas, sandwiches, kabobs, salads; we will be preparing Italian, German, Indian, Mediterranian, and more. Within a few weeks, we will be serving thousands. So, we need to take the opportunity now to work everything out so that we get it right when it's show time.