DIETARY REQUIRMENTS: Two years of planning have gone into ensuring that the Olympians and their supporters will not go hungry during the Games.
According to Marie O'Brien, who has overall charge for accommodating and feeding the visitors, the system put in place is up to the challenges posed.
"We are looking at 100,000 breakfasts, 100,000 dinners and 200,000 lunches over the period and we are confident that the system will work," she said. "We decided to put a set menu in place for the duration and we are working off that." Marie has been on secondment from the Bank of Ireland for the past two years.
"One of the main problems was to determine the diversity of food being required to suit the religious and cultural needs of the visitors," she said. "Then we also had to look at the special needs of the athletes and what their diets required, but we managed to get all that together. Many of the people involved in organising the event have hospitality or catering backgrounds and they have been an enormous help."
She singled out the catering manager, Tracey McDaid from Waterford, and the volunteers from the Jury's/Doyle group who had worked hard on choosing the menus. "We had no difficulty sourcing halal or kosher food and these foods are readily available for the teams and the visitors.
"We are also very lucky that some of our main sponsors, like O'Brien Sandwich Bars, Glanbia, Kellogg and Keelings are all food companies," she said.
Visitors are given a breakfast and a packed lunch and there is a set menu for dinner. "We have been using a lot of fruit and salads in the menus and this has been very suitable for a lot of the national delegations," Maria said. "There has been a very high demand for vegetarian foods and we are geared up to meet sectorial demands."
Nutritionists and other experts are available in case the athletes have any particular dietary requirements.
Most of the food has been sourced in Ireland and supplied by or through the main sponsors. "So far, it has been working out very well and we think no one is going hungry."