Haringey Council is gushing forth a veritable tsunami of enthusiasm and support for the forthcoming Olympics (pass the sickbag someone):
"Soon the Olympic Games will take place on our doorstep.
London will be alive with colour, drama and anticipation as visitors
from around the world descend on the city to watch athletes from more
than 200 countries compete for the greatest sporting prizes.
In Haringey we can all get involved in this once in a lifetime event
by lining the streets during the Torch Relay which sees the Olympic
Flame transported across the borough by inspirational torchbearers on
July 25th - two days before the opening ceremony.
The council is working with Games organisers to make this a fantastic spectacle and a safe, family occasion to remember forever.
Also that day will be an early evening celebration at Alexandra
Palace which is where the Olympic Flame will end its Haringey journey.
During the Games themselves, Haringey will also host many cultural and community events to celebrate the spirit of the Olympics.
But it’s not only about spectacle and sporting excellence: the Games
will create a lasting legacy for London and the council will do all it
can to share in that legacy and secure benefits for our community.
Some of these will be obvious such as the regeneration of the area
around the stadium, which will bring jobs and homes for all. Others may
be more subtle, such as attracting worldwide investment and trade, as
London is showcased as an efficient and inspiring base for business to
flourish.
But the greatest legacy will be if the Olympics fortifies the spirit
of our community in these challenging times, providing a beacon of
excellence through endeavour."
Haringey Council likes to portray itself as looking after the best interests and welfare of its residents; eg Haringey Council is set to become the first in the UK to limit
the number of pizza, burger and kebab shops on its streets, in an attempt
to improve the health of its poorest residents.
A draft scheme is in place for the restrictions which would see planning
applications for venues considered alongside the need to keep the
number of takeaways strictly limited.
New outlets may also be banned from within 400 metres of schools,
youth clubs and parks.
Aside from the fact that it is not the state's role to stop us eating what we want, I find their dislike of fast food to be at variance with their gushing enthusiasm for the Olympics.
For why?
“The Olympics will be the biggest single catering event in the UK since the
Second World War.”
Who said this?
None other than Jon Woods, the general manager for Coca-Cola UK &
Ireland, whose company plans to use the Olympics Park as a test bed for new products and methods.
Additionally, McDonald's (a fast food company) plans to build the world's largest McDonald's at the London Olympics Games site in Stratford. The
two storey 3,000 sq metre leviathan will seat up to 1,500 people, and
will be one of the four McDonald's restaurants built in and near the
Olympics Park.
Given Haringey Council's antipathy towards fast food, will it be urging its residents who attend the Olympics to boycott the catering?
My thanks to a loyal reader who has written to me advising me of the considerable problems that she has had trying to set up a modest food concession in the Olympic Park during the forthcoming Olympics:
"I made an enquiry with regards to obtaining a unit within the Olympic grounds to sell food in 2007, at that time I was doing my catering from my home but am now established in a premises specialising in authentic Guyanese foods including Caribbean foods.
At the time of my enquiry I was advised that an organisation would be set up to deal with the Olympics.
In May 2009 I contacted the organisers, and I was advised that I needed to registered to be considered for any opportunities, so in May I registered.
On the 11 May 2009 I was sent an email confirming my registration.
I have since been in contact with Compete 4 regularly.
They sent me to London 2012, and then finally I have been directed to my Council, who do not understand why I was sent to them.
I have been told that I need to wait, and if I am successful I would be informed. However, there are now less than 75 days left until the games and I still do not know my position.
From my understanding this Olympics is supposed to help small businesses, but I am struggling to obtain any information as to my position.
Please can you help me?"
It is clear to me that the bureaucracy involved has not been at all helpful to this loyal reader, who only wants a simple answer to her question as to whether she has been successful or not.
Those of you who thought that the Olympics are about sport are sorely misguided, they are not about sport according to Jon Woods the general manager for Coca-Cola UK &
Ireland.
What then are the Olympics about, if not sport?
“The Olympics will be the biggest single catering event in the UK since the
Second World War.”
It seems that whilst those who compete in the Olympics stadium this year will be fit and healthy, many of those who constructed it were/are not.
The Olympics Delivery
Authority (ODA) have stated that many of the 12,000 builders
working on the stadium were living an 'unhealthy lifestyle', and
that 28% were obese.
It seems that the workforce were living the high life at night (gorging on takeaways etc), then skipping breakfast. This then caused them to be fatigued by lunchtime, and increased the accident rate.
The solution offered by ODA was to serve bowls of porridge at £1 a bowl.
Accidents in the morning
apparently decreased, as blood sugar levels and food cravings were "normalised".
McDonald's plans to build the world's largest McDonald's at the London Olympics Games site in Stratford.
The two storey 3,000 sq metre leviathan will seat up to 1,500 people, and will be one of the four McDonald's restaurants built in and near the Olympics park.
Organisers of the London 2012 Olympics, on the pretext of "security", are considering banning spectators from bringing mobile phones and picnics to Olympics events.
Flasks, thermoses and larger quantities of food will all be banned.
Liquids of more than 100ml, camera tripods, phones, flags of countries not involved in the Games along with umbrellas (no rain predicted then?) are also all banned.
"Security" may well be the fig leaf excuse used by organisers for this ban. However, the real reason lies with the money being generated by sponsors from their marketing campaigns and food/drink etc concessions at the Olympic venues.
Whilst the ODA may think that it has a great plan for ferrying athletes, IOC officials, the media and assorted Olympics hangers on to and from the 2012 London Olympics (via specially designated Olympics routes) it may have forgotten the needs of the ordinary people of London.
How, for instance, is fresh food going to be transported around the capital if some of the key routes are blocked for use by Olympics officials et al?
Natalie Chapman, of the Freight Transport Association (FTA), is quoted in the Telegraph:
"It will be a huge challenge.
Difficult is the understatement of the century. It will be pretty hellish, especially as we are expecting an upsurge in business and will have to make even more deliveries with less time available to us.
With non-perishable goods it would be sensible to stockpile. But with high-value goods and the problems of cash flow, that is not always easy. Restaurants may have to work rather longer hours to receive their food."
No doubt a plan will be put in place, but at what cost?
It seems that the organisers of the London Olympics, with their enthusiasm for McDonald's and Coke, have neglected to mention London's largest fresh produce wholesale market (New Spitalfields Market) in food provision proposals.
This is somewhat ironic as the catering for the Olympics is, so we are told, meant to showcase British produce (does that include the 20% of food provided by McDonald's etc?).
The Fresh Produce Journal quotes Spitalfields' business development manager, Tim Williams:
"Despite our many attempts to connect with the relevant authorities, they have completely ignored the existence of the largest wholesale market in the UK, which is sited half a mile from the main Olympic Park, Olympic Village and press and broadcast centres."
Regrettably money and sponsorship is the driving force behind these games, vegetables simply are not as "exciting" as fizzy sugared water and processed meat products.
BT are planning to reopen their revolving restaurant, at the top of the BT Tower in central London, in time for the London 2012 Olympics.
The restaurant has been closed to the public since 1980.
Regrettably, instead of looking for a good chef who can cook well, they are looking for a celebrity chef to oversee the restaurant.
The restaurant contains a 10ft-wide revolving section of floor that provides diners with a 360-degree view of London, it takes 20 minutes to complete a full revolution.
Given its limited seating (around 70) it is highly unlikely that the ordinary citizen will ever have the opportunity to dine there, I guarantee it that will be swamped with corporate bookings and (given the fact that a "celebrity chef" will be running it) the prices will be out of reach to most.
Which is sad as the Olympics legacy, I assumed, was meant to be for all the people not just the privileged few.
In keeping with the government's promise that there will be a legacy, once the "hoopla" over the London 2012 Olympics has long since passed away, it can be confirmed that there will at least be "food" and "health" legacy that will doubtless imprint itself into the minds of all of those who attend that games.
It seems that McDonald's, the company that gave us Ronald MacDonald and the "Big Mac", may well become the only branded restaurant at Britain's Olympic venues.
Other food chains, including British and Indian outlets, have been told they will not be able to sell their products at the Olympic sites, without removing labels or changing packaging; restaurants/cafes already at sites such as the ExCel Centre have been told to "hop it" whilst the Games are on, to make room for the "anointed purveyor of fries and burgers".
It's a done deal, apparently.
Meanwhile Coca-Cola has secured exclusive rights to selling non-alcoholic drinks, including tea and coffee within the Olympic venues.
What is it doctors and health experts say about fizzy drinks loaded with sugar, and fat laden fries?
Can someone remind me?
By all means serve McDonald's, but do not exclude others from the Games.
Those of you with a penchant for dog, who are hoping to indulge your culinary fantasies in Beijing during the Olympics, are set for a disappointment.
The Beijing Tourism Bureau vice director, Xiong Yumei, has stated that if a customer ordered dog meat restaurant staff should "patiently" suggest another entree.
The Beijing Catering Trade Association (BETA) has issued a circular that forbids all 112 designated restaurants to provide dog meat dishes during the August Olympics. It also strongly advises other establishments to suspend serving dog until September.
Any restaurant found violating the ban would be blacklisted by the association.
It seems that the London Olympics 2012 is being used as an excuse by lobbyists to press the government to speed up the immigration processes for foreign chefs.
Sector skills council People 1st and the trade body the British Hospitality Association (BHA) have sent a joint letter to the prime minister urging him to act immediately on the issue.
Brian Wisdom, chief executive of People 1st, said:
"The Government has known for some time that employers here are struggling to find highly skilled chefs.
There is a certain irony in the fact that a sushi chef with 12 years' training – who we really need in this country – gets denied entry, yet footballers from the same part of the world with less years' training behind them take priority."
BHA chief executive Bob Cotton said:
"With our food tastes evolving, there is an urgent need for great chefs, and this will become even more of an issue with the influx of millions of tourists heading to London in advance of the Olympic Games."
China will strengthen oversight of food products entering Beijing, in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
There has been a series of food safety scandals.
Rewards for uncovering unlawful production methods have been increased from 10K Yuan to 50K Yuan.
Beijing will also set up a system to trace back food and food products to their origins, and will strictly monitor the use of fertiliser and pesticides.
China is not going to allow anything to damage its image or reputation in the run up to the Games.
