PHS grad providing food service at Olympics
By PAUL LaPANN, plapann@newsandsentinel.comArticle Photos
BEIJING- Todd Seligman can attest to the voracious appetites of Olympic athletes.
People read about gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps of the United States consuming 12,000 calories a day. Other Olympians also are big eaters.
Seligman, a 1975 graduate of Parkersburg High School, is director of culinary production systems for ARAMARK, which won the contract to cater the Olympics for the athletes and media corps.
Seligman and staff are responsible for providing food in five areas: athletes village, main press center, international broadcast center and two media villages. This involves about 45,000 meals in the village and 25,000 meals in the press centers - a job of Olympic proportions.
In an e-mail from Beijing, Seligman said, "In general they (athletes in the Olympics) are very big eaters. It is amazing to walk among them. You are among the world's most elite and highly tuned athletic machines and they consume a massive amount of calories.
"You can watch the trends from when they first come in and eat heavily on the protein - steaks, grilled chicken breasts, grilled fish, lamb, chicken, beef and shrimp skewers. Then how that starts to move to the carbohydrates (pastas, rice, breads) as they start the real competition.''
Seligman declined to discuss specifics of the eating habits of individual athletes, saying ARAMARK prides itself in providing a relaxing, safe, hassle-free environment for the Olympians to dine in.
"As far as the athletes are concerned, we are enjoying the highest participation of athletes dining with us that I can remember. So you end up seeing everyone at one time or another," he said.
Seligman, a certified executive chef, and ARAMARK also worked the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, which was a smaller food-service operation, he said.
The athletes dining area has themed stations, such as Mediterranean, international, Asian, cold foods, beverages and ice cream/yogurt. Staff prepare grilled meats to order, pizza, carved meats in rotisserie oven stations and the world-famous Peking Duck is carved to order at a station. The duck is served with leeks and Hoisin Sauce wrapped in tiny pancakes, Seligman said.
About 5,000 people can be fed in the main dining room, so it gets turned about eight times a day, he said.
The chefs, cooks and staff have been doing an outstanding job in Beijing, Seligman said. Ninety percent of the dishes are being made from scratch, which adds work to everyone from the warehouse workers to the cooks to the staff responsible for keeping the pots and pans clean, he said.
"Our Chinese staff, which is comprised mostly of students from various culinary programs from around China, have been wonderful. I can speak personally for my staff (which is comprised of nine international managers and 45 students) that they are great. I am blessed to have the high quality individuals working to support what I am responsible for. I really could not do what needs to be done without them," Seligman, who currently lives in DuBois, Pa., said.
He said the Chinese have been diligent in providing an adequate supply of safe, nutritious food for the athletes and press corps.
During personal eating forays into the city of 17 million people, Seligman and family have fallen in love with many dishes, he said.
"We try to figure out which of our favorites will end up back in the States as a new trendy item. Three of our favorites that we can see making it in the bar scene would be Haystack Potatoes (julienne potatoes deep fried, tossed with dried whole chili peppers and mounded up like a stack of hay in a field), Chicken Wings on a skewer seasoned with cumin and other spices and grilled over charcoal, and peanuts roasted with small dried chili peppers.
"Other items in the entree category would be Squirrel Fish, a whole boneless fish that is deep fried and finished in a sweet and sour sauce. Dumplings that have a soup broth in them (aptly named soup dumplings) are to die for. And finally there is a minced grilled lamb with grilled Naan (a Middle Eastern flat bread), peppers and onions that is spiced heavily with Middle Eastern spices and you can't stop eating," Seligman wrote in his e-mail.
His favorite restaurant in Beijing is the Mushroom Hot Pot, which specializes in hundreds of types of mushrooms. Each has a specific health benefit.
"You pick out the selection of mushrooms and they are cooked at your table in pots of homemade chicken stock. The stock's flavor increases as you cook each type of mushroom. The staff explains the benefits of the mushroom as they add them," Seligman said.
His sister, Nanette Seligman, a teacher at PHS, brought back an Olympic flag that is flying at the high school. She visited Todd in Beijing earlier this summer.
Todd Seligman said he loves the traditions in China. He will be there through mid-October.
"It is the fabric of life here. The respect for family, the absolute open acceptance, genuine friendliness and the eagerness to help is overwhelming at times. I see much happiness in the people and the smiles, lots of smiles.
"But the single most profound thing I see is that everyone is doing for the common good, not for the individual self. It's all about what can be done for the community, what is good for the community, never what is good for me - interesting," he said.
