Athletes to be satisfied with Baku 2015 menu

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

The athletes and guests to the inaugural European Games scheduled for June 12-28 in Baku will have a pleasant chance to taste the Azerbaijani national cuisine.

The organizers believe that visiting Azerbaijan and not tasting its national dishes equates to coming to London without seeing Big Ben.

The canteen daily will offer different samples of Azerbaijani cuisine, such as kebabs, Pilaf salads and so on. Such dishes are rich with carbohydrate and protein to satisfy the athletes’ dietary needs.

For the athletes competing in the 2015 European Games, food is about more than just sustenance. It’s fuel in the quest for gold.

When it comes to feeding athletes and making champions, Azerbaijan understands that the way to success passes through good nutrition and a strong body. With this in mind Azerbaijan intends to offer all athletes the best of the best. With 6,000 athletes to arrive in Baku and 3,000 delegations, the nation has its work cut out!

The Baku 2015 plans to offer a wide range of food for the athletes. Chefs have developed special menus with over 2,000 different dishes, said BEGOC team to AzerNews.

Alongside national cuisine, kosher and European food will be made available as well.

Since nutrition is key to sportsmen' success the menu of Baku 2015 has been prepared in accordance with athletes’ requirements and dietary imperatives.

There will be no special menu for each sport, as the breakfast menu is very rich and offers a wide range of foods, comprehensive enough for all sports.

So, each athlete will be able to choose in accordance nutrition with their nutritionists’ recommendations.

In addition, nutrition stands will be operating in the main canteens, which will support athletes - giving appropriate information about nutrition and allergy requirements.

Sportsmen will have a chance to familiarize themselves with special menu cards including the compositions of food: energy, protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber and natrium.

Chefs have also included a list of menu with allergen products such as dairy products, wheat, soy, nuts, peanut, fish, shrimp, egg, celery and parsley, mustard, sesame and shells.

Earlier, Tahir Amiraslanov, the president of Azerbaijan National Association of Culinary, said that at the end of 2014 he together with his team, appealed to the Azerbaijan Culture and Tourism Ministry, offering to make some 80 percent of all dishes in the country’s leading hotels menu national dishes.

The ministry ordered the team to start with Azerbaijani style brealfast. The team prepared a standard Azerbaijani breakfast, leaving some taste of European cuisine.

It is because the ministry took into consideration the fact that many sportsmen may have some difficulties in changing their familiar food to something new.

For example, instead of Dutch cheese, the menu will offer national types of cheese such as motal or shor. Jam will be replaced with Murabba (national jam). The menu will also include such foods as lavash, Pakhlava (sweet), Shekerbura (sweet) and so on.