Amid recent complaints about the food options available within the Beijing Winter Olympics bubble and quarantine hotels, Team USA snowboarder Tessa Maud has praised her Olympics dining experience as nothing but “the best.”
Maud told Insider that she hasn’t been “finding any issues” and even stated that the meals she has had at the Winter Olympics are “the best Chinese food [she has] ever eaten.”
“I’ve been going to the restaurants that you take the bus to, and they’re, like, a 10-minute drive. So I’ve been eating food there as well, and that food is insane – the best Chinese food I’ve ever had, hands down,” Maud told Insider.
She also says that while some people may be having negative experiences with the food, “There’s always something that you can eat, something you can find that’s going to be better than the cafeteria.
The 18-year-old has been documenting her Olympic dining experience on TikTok where she has posted several videos that show the variety of meals and snacks that she has been eating.
In one of her TikTok videos, Maud gives viewers a look into some of the dishes that she ordered while at an Olympic bubble restaurant.
Some of the dishes seen in Maud’s video include stir-fried broccoli, Kung Pao chicken and scallion pancakes. The young athlete describes the food as “literally so good” and “literally amazing.”
Maud also said that her culinary experience with Chinese food was fairly new and that she feels refreshed and appreciative while experiencing the food culture at the Beijing Olympics.
One thing the 18-year-old described as “really cool” was that most parts of an animal are used in Chinese cuisine.
“You’re not wasting anything. You’re utilizing the whole part of each animal. So I think that’s really important in cuisine as well,” she told Insider. “You don’t see that in American food culture.”
Athletes and staff members have recently been voicing their concerns over the food options that are being given while isolating in the quarantine hotels. Many have complained about the lack of food options and poor food quality
Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova, who had to quarantine at the isolation hotels, had criticized her meals as “inedible” on her Instagram, where she also claimed she had been given the same meal for five consecutive days.
An Olympics hotel manager even referred to the food in one of their own restaurants as “disgusting” to CNN.
Maud says that it’s best to find the good in every situation and that this mentality has helped her enjoy her dining experience during the Winter Olympics.
“You can always just try and find the best of each situation,” she told Insider.
Feature Image via TikTok
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