June 19,2007
80 Hungry Racers
A little history
Back in Mexico, I became the designated food person on our team. Not because I can cook, simply because I am the pickiest person on the team and the only one who cares enough about what we eat. It turned out, the food job wasn’t so hard after all, we had a woman who volunteered to do all our cooking for only half our world race budget of $2.75 a day.
At the end of our time in Guatemala I realized I actually didn’t know how to cook very many things without a recipe book and a kitchen full of ingredients.
Once again in Peru, the church we were partnering with provided all of our food for us, and it wasn’t until Mozambique that I got a taste of cooking for a group.
I joined with Talia and Bri from team YETI to plan meals for the time our teams stayed together. Our cooking supplies looked something like 1 large cauldron, 1 small cauldron and a fire pit.
That concludes my brief history of food work on this trip.
The Story
When we arrived in Swazi, Jimmy was busy planning a training schedule for the June racers. In the midst of his delegation process I was the lucky pick for Food Management. I shrugged my shoulders and took on the challenge, wondering what in the world I was getting myself into.
I took a look around me to assess the facility. The door on the refrigerator doesn’t close all the way, keeping everything inside just under room temperature. The stove and oven are a huge step up from a fire pit and cauldron and the two electric water kettles were the ticket items in the kitchen.
Time to go shopping! As a people pleaser and a health nut, the challenge began to set in. How can I please 80 hungry World Racer’s, serve a balanced diet and maintain an efficient kitchen?
I quickly learned the boys will never complain about the food as long as there is enough and at least one meal contains protein. (I have to keep these boys strong, so they can keep us safe.) The girls are a little tougher to please but wheat bread and non-fat milk helps do the trick. The whole group was happy for the most part as long as there was a full can of instant coffee and plenty of cinnamon sugar toast available.
The experience, was very tiring, because as a food coordinator, you can’t exactly just decide you don’t feel like doing your job for a day. But it was a great learning experience and I felt extremely loved by all the happy helpers and satisfied eaters.
