Special Report
Editorial
Op-Ed
Opinion
Columns

Politics
Literature
Music
Art & Culture
Sikh Religion
Rights
1984
Books
Education
Business

Entertainment
Lifestyle
Travel
Health
Heritage
Sports
Kids Corner

Panjab
India
Pakistan
South Asia
US of A
Canada
Asia-Pacific
UK
Europe
Middle East
Africa
World
 

Archives
Newsletter
Advertise

Obituaries

Feedback
Contact Us
About Us
Site Map

Debate on Commonwealth Games menu beefs up
WSN Network 

New Delhi: Indian politicians are set to fight a war about muscles, literally. Former BJP president Rajnath Singh has demanded that beef must not be served during the Commonwealth Games but the organising committee last week hit back saying “international standard” food will be served during the October 3-14 event.

“We have to serve food of international standard — our menu will cater to palates of all participating countries,” Games organising committee secretary-general Lalit Bhanot said. “The menu will also have to be approved by the Commonwealth Games Federation.”

The committee is yet to decide on caterers for the Games Village and other sports venues. More than 20 catering firms had submitted bids after the tender was issued in June 2009. The Games Village will dish out 36,000 meals each day, officials said. They said 45 different kinds of cuisines will be served during the event.

So far, the internal decision is to serve beef. An official said, "Hindutva forces can say what they want, but we also have to take care of athletes’ choice.”

According to the official, the organising committee has prepared a sample menu for all venues, though nothing has been finalised yet. The sample menu has been decided after considering common allergies; the food has to be free of gluten and nut to ensure athletes don’t face any problem, the official said.

The venues will also offer specific “athlete venue meals”, based on nutritional requirement of athletes in question, according to the official.

The sample menu and concepts will be taken up at the chef-de-mission’s conference in March, when chef-de-missions, or sports managers, of all 71 participating countries arrive here.

The BJP may finally decide not to make it an issue though it is known that Rajnath Singh had requested the Delhi administration and has written letters to Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna and organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi to underline that serving beef will hurt religious sentiments.

20 January 2010
 

Bookmark with

Reddit    Yahoo     Furl    Delicious