Image
PRESENTING LIMA 2019 MVP: AJÍ DE GALLINA
This typical food joins the podium, along with quinoa—a millenary cereal that has conquered the world—, of foods that have drawn much attention and are now enjoyed by athletes.
The clock strikes 13:00 at the Pan American Village and delegations are entering the wide dining room or going to the Lima Culinary Tour, section. They immediately go to the ají de gallina: that mixture of yellow hues, of hen pieces with chopped nuts, Parmesan cheese, coriander and olives. One of the many typical foods we have and became Lima 2019 MVP.
This way, this typical food joins the podium, along with quinoa—a millenary cereal that has conquered the world—, of foods that have drawn much attention and are now enjoyed by athletes.
Giorgio Mautino, mayor of the Pan American Village, expressed his satisfaction because everything is working well: not only the food distribution for athletes, but also the transportation times of athletes for their competitions, cleaning of the bedrooms, security in the Sports Center, and health.
In a nutshell: zero complaints in the first competition week and he trusts everything will continue this way until the end of the greatest multi-sports event in the continent.
He explained that the work, mainly of Sodexo's team in the kitchen, is to highlight: a total of 700,000 meals are expected to be served until the end of the Games, during 22 hours a day. This is because the dining room works in two shifts to be always attentive to the needs of the athletes and for the elaborated variety in the buffet. Athletes can choose among many options: Peruvian food, meat, carbohydrates, salads and fruits.
On his part, Aldo Cardini, head of the chefs of Sodexo, the company in charge of the catering service provided to the athletes, pointed out that they have made a combination of international and Peruvian foods, such as solterito, salpicón, salads, mote soup, tomato and mushroom cream, pescado a la chorrillana, which are enjoyed by the delegations at the Pan American Village.
He also pointed out that the attention, approximately by hour, is of 1200 people, being the dinner the moment of greater demand and concentration, between 20:00 and 21:00 hours In addition, a new space has been implemented for the preparation of 400 wok dishes daily inside the dining room, among which are arroz chaufa, saltado de pollo, and lomo saltado.
For this reason, two shifts of work have been distributed so that the transition in the distribution of food never stops: a staff of 600 people is in charge of the preparation of food, the selection of organic products that are used in the kitchen, kitchen assistants, chef, nutritionists, a whole army of professionals who make everything go well.
Finally, Cardini explained that almost 600 kg of bananas, a ton of animal proteins (meat and chicken), 200 liters of soup, and 600 liters of natural fruit juice are consumed daily.