Leaf over beef: Plant-based meals will take centre stage at the Paris Olympics

Foie gras will be off the table at the 2024 Paris Olympics and hummus taking its place.

With its progressive food vision, Paris 2024 hopes to halve its environmental impact through four key actions:

1. Reducing animal proteins
2. Limiting food waste
3. Reducing the use of single-use plastic
4. Prioritising local, seasonal and organic products.

The key emphasis will be about adding more plant-based ingredients as the most effective way to significantly reduce emissions and help make this the greenest Olympics in modern history.

Sustainability will be at the top of the podium with the goal of minimising the carbon footprint of more than 40,000 meals produced daily using 500 meticulously planned recipes.

At the centre of it all is the Athletes’ Village, which will transform into a 1,200-table, 24/7 eatery - literally the world’s largest restaurant for the course of the Games.

Over 13 million meals to be served to athletes and spectators, a third of which will be plant-based.

200 cooks will undertake the herculean task of feeding 15,000 athletes from 208 countries at the Olympic village and at competition sites for a period of 15 days.

Catering to the challenge at hand, superstar chefs have been tasked with developing dishes that marry the best in French gastronomy and local ingredients with an eye on both the nutritional needs of the world's best athletes and the environmental impact of the event.

Studies show veganism is increasingly popular among athletes.

In a 2020 study published in the International Journal of Sports and Exercise Medicine, sports scientist Katharina Wirnitzer, PhD, estimates that up to 17 percent of people in any given group may be vegan.

The 2018 documentary The Game Changers followed UFC fighter James Wilks as he investigated the benefits of a plant-based diet for professional athletes, demonstrating that it can deliver both strength and endurance.

The show was executive produced by Arnold Schwarzenegger, co-produced by Formula One winner Lewis Hamilton and with presentations by tennis legend Novak Djokovic and Jackie Chan – alongside numerous endurance runners, American footballers, boxers and strongmen who follow plant-based diets.

According to a 2019 review published in the journal Nutrients, following a plant-based diet has been shown to improve both cardiovascular health and recovery time in endurance athletes.

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