In order to satisfy a diverse and demanding set of palates for the 28,000 athletes, coaches and staff at the Olympic Village in Beijing, chefs at Philadelphia-based Aramark designed a menu featuring 800 recipes from all around the world that accommodate all sorts of dietary needs – vegetarian, Halal, kosher – reports The New York Times.The size of three football fields, the dining hall can seat some 6,000 people at the same time and is open 24 hours a day.Although the focus on the eight-day menu rotation is on Asian (especially Chinese) specialties, there are also offerings from Italy, Greece, North Africa, Southern Spain and Latin America. In fact, chefs will work with more than 35,000 pounds of duck, 14,000 pounds of tofu, 150,000 pounds of beef, 1 million apples, 20.1 million servings of rice, 743,000 potatoes – not to mention the cheese, lettuce, onions, chickens, and oranges.
