Cooking Greece

Student spends summer, semester living, cooking in Olympic Village

One year ago, if I was told I would be a sous chef at the 2004 Athens Olympics in Greece, I never would have believed it. Granted, one year ago, culinary aspirations were almost entirely out of my mind.
As a senior hospitality and tourism management major, choosing a field to pursue was an issue I faced many times. While sitting in Brett Horton’s HTM 434 class in October 2003, HTM program director Reginald Foucar-Szocki entered the class to make a quick pitch. Students interested in working in food service at the 2004 Olympics were being asked to apply. My initial thought was ‘what a cool experience that would be.’ With one class to complete in my Fall 2004 semester, and because working at the Games would require me to be in Greece through Oct. 2004, I tried my best to forget about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The problem was, I couldn’t get this chance out of my mind. So I called home for a little parental advice. My parents encouraged me to apply. After a few phone interviews with Aramark Human Resources personnel, I was offered one of 48 team leader positions to work in the Olympic Village feeding the athletes, coaches and team personnel for the 202 countries set to attend the Games.

Though I was hired as a team leader, I was able to make a quick and smooth transition to the culinary team. Aramark recruited the 48 team leaders from hospitality schools all over the United States, representing 14 different universities. This experience was enhanced by Aramark housing the 48 of us in the new YaBanaki Resort in Varkiza Beach, just south of Athens on the Aegean Sea. Working and living together has allowed us to build both a professional and personal rapport as a team.

Working in the Olympic Village can best be described as surreal. Whenever I talk to friends or family, they always ask, ‘What athletes have you met?’ I can really say, ‘All of them.’ Both in and out of work, athletes constantly surround us. While at the USA-Greece Softball game last week, the concession stand wouldn’t take USA tennis player Andy Roddick’s credit card, so we purchased him and his friends a Heineken.

Attending many of the Olympic events has also been a nice perk of the job. We are able to purchase our tickets within the Olympic Village, where the athletes are housed, allowing us to have decent seats to most events. Those we have attended so far include USA/Australia basketball, USA/Greece softball, Cycling, handball, table tennis, athletics and the Marathon this Sunday.

Working with chefs from all over the world, including England, Australia, China, Mexico, Greece, Canada and Hungary has been a phenomenal experience. Our facility, the main dining tent within the Olympic Village, seats 5,200 people and has the capability to feed 60,000 patrons per 24-hour period.

Initially I was going to move back to the United States at the end of August to complete my last class at JMU, but slowly I have realized I will never have this type of an opportunity again and have since decided to stay and work the Paralympics, which begin in mid-September and last for 10 days. After spending time with friends and family in Greece, I have decided to stay until mid-October in order to further fulfill my experience here. Though this will potentially push back my graduation date, I will be able to experience something I never could have fathomed one year ago, all because I paid attention one day in class when a professor pitched a summer job opportunity.