foodmuseumblog

Olive vs. Laurel Wreaths: Either Way, Victory Crowns Are Food Plants

Are Olive or Laurel branches the Olympic victory symbol? For the Athens 2004 games olive wreaths are crowning the winning athletes. Here's an excerpt from the AP:

"Bringing back a symbol of the ancient Olympics, medal winners at the Summer Games in Athens will be crowned with an olive wreath.

Ilias Antonellos, the vice president of the company donating the wreathes, said Thursday it is the first time in the modern Olympics that medalists will be crowned.

Antonellos said each medalist will receive a wreath and floral bouquet during the Games, which start Friday and run until August 29. Medalists in the Paralympic competition for physically challenged athletes will also be awarded wreaths. Organizers have ordered 2,563 olive wreaths and bouquets for the Olympics and 2,960 for the Paralympics that follow."

But what about the winner getting the "laurels?" And being a "laureate?" The laurel wreath as victory symbol originates in Greek mythology. It has to do with Apollo slaying a monster and starting a cycle of four annual contests (pan-hellenic athletic games cycle) that honored his accomplishment. These included the first Olympic games. Later, Apollo insulted Eros, the Greek god of love. Eros shot him with a magic arrow that caused Apollo to fall in hopeless love with a mortal woman named Daphne. She was hit with another Eros arrow which rendered her incapable of loving Apollo. Nevertheless he pursued her, and out of desperation Daphne escaped by having herself turned into a Laurel. Ever after, winners of the games to honor Apollo wore wreaths of laurel in honor of Apollo's Daphne.

Click here for more on all this.

Click here for more about the Greek Laurel.

Do you cook with bay leaves? Leave a comment.

Athens Olympic Flame: It's an Olive Leaf, So was the Torch

The Olympic Flame burning over the Athens 2004 Games these two weeks is in the shape of an olive leaf. So too were the torches used to carry the flame in a series of relays around the world inspired by the olive leaf. Here's more on that.

Here's a report from the time the torch design was revealed. http://www.greece.gr/LIFE/Athens%202004/torch.stm

Are you enjoying the Olympics? Have you been inspired cook or go out for Greek food? Leave a comment below.

Olive: Symbol of Athens Games

Photo shows an unidentified boy holding a Greek flag and wearing an olive wreath on his head and t-shirt. (AP photo)

Some of us are just getting around to recognizing the emblem of the Olympic games now going on in Athens is a food reference. The Olympics are protective of their symbols and trademarks. A promotion video produced at the time of the announcement of the design shows it being linked to everything from the Pyramids, Taj Mahal, Red Square, a Buddhist monastery and the Statue of Liberty. But just try and put it on your website or anywhere else...and you'll have the Olympic police threatening you. Click here to learn about one such run-in. This emblem is shown Here is a press release statement about the emblem (which includes the video mentioned above>)

The ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games emblem is a wreath made from an olive tree branch. It represents the four values of the 2004 Games – heritage, participation, celebration, human scale - in a uniquely Greek design.

The olive wreath or “kotinos” is one of the legacies of the ancient Games and was the prize awarded to Olympic champions. The olive tree was the sacred tree and symbol of the city-state of Athens.

The wreath has the shape of an open circle; it is an open invitation to humanity to participate in a common endeavor, the Olympic way of life, through the greatest peaceful competition of the world.

It is also, a pledge for a universal festival that transcends boundaries and distinctions. The ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games will be a celebration full of energy and excitement in which everyone is invited to participate.

The design is rendered by hand in a free and unrestricted manner that highlights the human element.

The palette of white and blue reflects the Greek sea and sky, suggesting the fluidity and transparency of water and the brightness of the Aegean light.

Olive Wreaths to the winning athletes, too. Here's an AP report about it:

Bringing back a symbol of the ancient Olympics, medal winners at the Summer Games in Athens will be crowned with an olive wreath.

Ilias Antonellos, the vice president of the company donating the wreathes, said Thursday it is the first time in the modern Olympics that medalists will be crowned.

Antonellos said each medalist will receive a wreath and floral bouquet during the Games, which start Friday and run until August 29. Medalists in the Paralympic competition for physically challenged athletes will also be awarded wreaths. Organizers have ordered 2,563 olive wreaths and bouquets for the Olympics and 2,960 for the Paralympics that follow.

The Torch, itself, is in the shape of an olive leaf. Here's more on that.

About the olive leaf inspirationhttp://www.athens2004.com/en/GreekRouteOlympicTorch

Here's a report from the time the torch design was revealed. http://www.greece.gr/LIFE/Athens%202004/torch.stm

Food by the Ton at Olympics

Here is some information about the Philadelphia based Aramark Corporation's plans to feed ten thousand plus athletes at the Athens Olympic games.

Food for three weeks is measured by the ton, as reported on the Athens games website.

Ethnic preferences and dietary requirements ranging from halal (food preparation according to Islamic customs) to kosher (food preparation according to Jewish customs) to iodine intolerance will be taken into account, since the performance of athletes is related to nutrition. The 2004 Games will also give visitors the opportunity to taste Greek cuisine and products.

Food services will be provided for all customer groups at all Olympic and Paralympic Venues. At the Olympic Village, meals will be prepared for approximately 22,000 customers on a 24-hour basis. 50,000 meals will be served on a daily basis from 1,500 international recipes, utilizing 100 tons of food daily and creating 55 tons of waste.

Within the Olympic Village, the following supplies will be needed to prepare 6,000 meals per hour:

15,000 lt of milk
2,500 dozen eggs
300 tons of fruits and vegetables
120 tons of meats
85 tons of seafood
25,000 loafs of bread
750 lt tomato sauce
2 million litres of potable water
3 million refreshments

Canned Peas & Dehydrated Potatoes: Olympic Rations in Post-War 1948 Games

UK's Telegraph reports on the spartan meals for Olympians at the London games of 1948. Here's the beginning of the report;

"It is a far cry from the high-energy protein shakes or the complex carbohydrates of today's Olympians: the ideal recipe for athletic success was once thought to be sweets and chocolate.

Newly released documents from the National Archives show that British athletes at the 1948 Olympic Games in London were fed a daily allowance of sweets and chocolate to improve their performance.

The 1948 Olympic athletes were subject to food rationing
Although the athletes were subject to strict post-war rationing, they were each given more than half a pound of sugary confectionery a day along with less exotic delights such as dried egg, canned peas and dehydrated potato.

The daily diet of the competitors at the 14th Games in post-war London lies in stark contrast to the individually tailored meals that this year's athletes will be eating in preparation for their events in Athens."

Canned Peas & Dehydrated Potatoes: Olympic

What the Ancient Olympians Ate

While researching a new book about Greek cuisine, The Olive and the Caper (Workman, 2004) the author Greek scholar Susanna Hoffmann uncovered new information on what the ancient Greeks ate and the importance of food and the Olympics. Here is an exherpt from an article by the author More important was to take a trophy. And then, as now, what trophy meant in Greek was food.

Triumphant athletes received oil, figs and, more important, meal stipends. Victors from Athens, for example, were provided with food for the rest of their lives. Those who won horse or chariot races won hippotrophy, which literally means horse feed. This was no joke, because the cost of animal food for a professional horse or chariot racer was almost prohibitively high.

Contestants also had to eat. In fact, they carbed up during the Games as athletes do today. Most of their foods were grain. But one can imagine them eating pyramis (literally pyramid-shaped food, from which the shape of the architectural pyramid is taken) of wheat berry, barley groat pudding and noodles. They also drank, although breakfast was the only time Greeks drank wine straight. For other meals they added water to their wine.

Clearly, they loved to celebrate because the grounds of Olympia were littered with ancient wine cups.

They ate garlic, onions and, particularly, leeks with their grains. Leeks were so common in ancient times that the present Greek word for the color green, prassino, is derived from the word for leeks, prassa. Leeks are still a popular vegetable, and I offer them up in a Byzantine recipe for filo crusted Leek, Potato and Olive Pie.

Oxen was eventually replaced by lamb and goat as the main meats of Greece. But a dish of lamb shank seasoned with the ancient spices coriander and cinnamon still follows the sacrificial tradition.

Do you plan to watch the Olympics? Have you ever been to an Olympic Games? Got anything to say about eating and the games? Leave a comment, join our conversation.

Tour de Lance: what they ate to celebrate

Anna Hanks in the New York Times reports on how Lance's hometown of Austin celebrated their local hero.

"Perhaps the pinnacle of the tributes to Armstrong was a pastry at the upscale Hudson's on the Bend restaurant, where the illusion of a bicycle was created with lemon mousse, cookies for wheels and a chocolate seat and handlebar, all gliding along a road made of chocolate. The dessert was served with a yellow wristband inscribed with "Livestrong," which are sold to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation."

And Sally Jenkins describes in the Washington Post about the party Lance threw himself for his team in a Besancon chateau the last night of the tour. The evening ended when he announced that he had a hundred mile bike ride into Paris to do next day. Here's the start of her report:

"It was midnight in France on the night before Lance Armstrong entered Paris, about to become the six-time champion of the Tour de France, and he was content, full from a 10-course French meal, a variety of red wines, and several desserts. Armstrong had thrown a celebration for his U.S. Postal team and staff, feting them in the ancient wine cellar of a gorgeous medieval chateau in Besancon, and as he presided over a victory dinner that was almost tearful with euphoria, a thought occurred to him. "I had arranged to have this big night," he said, "and I realized that if you get second place, or third, or eighth, you don't get to do that. You know what? I got to have it this way.""

Did you watch any of the race around France? Did you celebrate?

Brioche: the bread to beat

Lance Armstrong, five time winner of the Tour de France cycle race, said today that "Brioche" was the team to beat. He was referring to the Brioches de Boulangere, the corporate sponsor of the French team leading the race after nine stages.

A team named after a French bread specialty, leading the Tour de France (Yellow Jersey competition) on Bastille Day, and another Frenchman won today's stage...

Here's some information about the brioche.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. offers this photo.

and definition: SYLLABICATION: bri·oche PRONUNCIATION: br-ôsh, -sh
NOUN: A soft, light-textured bread made from eggs, butter, flour, and yeast and formed into a roll or a bun.
ETYMOLOGY: French, from Old French, from broyer, brier, to knead, of Germanic origin. See bhreg- in Appendix I.

Photo on the left shows brioche molds.

Brioche dough recipe

Competitive Eating: Not Yet an Olympic Event....but just wait.

Fifty hotdogs in 12 minutes, that's what it took a Japanese pro competitive eater to win the Nathan's Famous contest. Here is a link to the website of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. This may not be an Olympic sport yet, but by the looks at the international nature of the tournaments...it is of global interest.

They have a promotional video for the sport with includes scenes from the above mentioned hot dog contest.

Pie eating contests have been a staple of state fairs for decades.....so it is only natural that all this would be marketed in our media driven times. Here's the IFOCE's history of competitive eating.

Among all the food fun and....waste, there is a link to a worthy charity,America's Second Harvest.

Have you ever competed in an eating contest? What are your reactions to this....all good fun, a real athletic feat or another example of a consumer society run-amok? Leave your comments.

Bread & Bikes

The Tour de France, the world's greatest bike race, begins today with a team sponsored by La Boulangere, a French company marketing packaged brioches and breads.

A few years ago, we witnessed the end of one stage of the race. We joined the six deep crowds near the finish line and waited for a half hour, watching the race on a jumbo screen. Various promotion trucks and advance vehicles paraded past, but my eyes were glued to the televised race. Then suddenly, the racers were upon us and past in a blur. I was still watching the screen.