Home >> My Olympic Story (May 19-June 7)

Zhao Jinlin: Cooking my way to my Olympic dream

My name is Zhao Jinlin. I am 57 years old. I have a doctorate in hotel, restaurant and tourism management. I am presently serving as the project training manager for Beijing Olympic catering services. I am also the director of the post-graduate department of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management of the Florida International University and a tenured professor of two U.S. universities. The restaurant business has allowed me to participate in three Olympic Games and bond with the Olympics. As a Chinese person living in the U.S., it's a particular pleasure for me to serve the Beijing Olympics.

With the Olympics drawing near, the atmosphere surrounding the Games in Mongolia is as excited as that in China. As people from a friendly neighboring country of China, Mongolians have great expectations and strong enthusiasm for the upcoming Games. Mongolian athletes are going all out to prepare for the Olympics, and ordinary residents are also eager for the grand event.

When Atlanta hosted the Olympics in 1996, I thought that China would definitely host the event some day. I asked myself what I'd be able to offer if that happened and began to see Atlanta as an opportunity to gain the experience I'd need for the Olympics in China.

But how could I participate in the Games? Aramark, the food services provider for the Atlantic Olympics, did not hire a lot of foreigners.

Then I remembered that the vice chairman of Aramark was the restaurant management supervisor when I was doing my master's degree at Indiana University. He was going to be the catering manager for the Atlanta Olympics. I wrote a recommendation letter for myself, telling him that I worked at an Aramark restaurant when I was studying at Indiana University and I wanted to join Aramark to serve and gain experience from the Olympics.

The company's management reviewed my letter but were concerned about my limited experience in restaurant service. It was here that a classmate from Chinese Taipei, who was now working in the human resources department of Aramark helped me in a big way. Thanks to her recommendation, I was able to serve at the Olympics as a front desk manager of hot dishes.

Cooking Chinese cuisine for Chinese athletes

Soon after the start of the Olympics, Chinese athlete Wang Yifu expressed his distaste for some of the food that the restaurant was serving. “Could you please heat this up for me," he said, showing me some chilled shrimp. No problem, I said. I asked a chef to help him cook the shrimp. A couple days later, he approached me again and asked me if it was possible to deep fry the shrimp. Of course, I said. The different flavors were very satisfying to him.

Days later, Wei Jizhong, secretary-general of the Chinese delegation, conveyed to me his view that the Chinese athletes were not accustomed to the cooking styles in the restaurant. I told him this was above my position and that this was something he'd have to bring up with the organizing committee. Wei sent an official letter to the Atlanta Organizing Committee on the matter and suggested that if the food services company decided to make changes, they should contact me. I received a copy of the letter and have kept it to this day as a precious souvenir.

Not long after, the letter was passed to Aramark. Its vice-chairman asked me to offer some ideas. I told him that the ingredients they were using were first class, but the problem was in the cooking. If they'd allow me to cook, I'd have three conditions: first, I wouldn't add to the stress of what I knew was an already busy kitchen; second, I could do the cooking myself without any help; third, and most important, I needed five dollars to buy some pepper and aniseed.

My requests were met. Overnight I designed a menu of ordinary Chinese dishes such as chicken egg soup and stewed beef. The next day, I went to a Chinese supermarket and bought seasoning and then cooked a big pot of chicken egg soup. In the evening, the fragrance from the 30 gallons of soup filled the whole dining room and drew a long line of Chinese athletes. At first the non-Chinese athletes wondered why there was such a long line, but when they found out about the Chinese soup, they lined up too. In two hours, I had served all the soup. After that, I prepared Chinese dishes of all types. The Chinese athletes were happy, and so was I.

Confident about China's Olympic bid

In early July of 2001, I went on a business trip to Beijing, knowing beforehand that the results of Beijing's Olympic bid would be annouced on July 13. Deeply confident about China's bid, I purposely brought with me the work uniform that I wore during the Atlanta Olympics. On the evening of July 13, 2001, I put on the uniform and waited in front of a TV with friends for the announcement. When Juan Samaranch said "Beijing," I knew that I should go to Athens in 2004 to experience and observe new developments in the Olympic Games, with the intention of preparing for the Beijing Olympics. Because of the good services I offered at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, I was invited by Aramark to serve as a front desk manager of Asian food for the Athens Olympic Games. I arrived at my post one month ahead of time and worked 50 days straight.

Through serving in two Olympics, I have accumulated plenty of needed experience and knowledge.

Helping to train 6,000

Aramark again won the right to serve as a catering contractor for the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing. As a training manager, I now shoulder the task of training 6,000 staff members in the restaurant business, including cooks, service staff, volunteers and cleaners. I need to clarify everybody's responsibilities to ensure good service. I wrote a manual on food safety and hygiene for the Olympics and a handbook on spoken English. These materials are now used in college textbooks in Beijing. Soon foreign journalists will arrive at the main international media center, and our 1,700 cooks and 4,000 plus service staff will arrive in Beijing, too. I will assist 600 students of Florida International University's school in Tianjin and 1,700 students majoring in cooking at 23 schools in China in their Olympic services.

During the two months period of the Olympics and Paralympics, we will supply 3.5 million portions of food for the Olympic Village. During peak time we will serve 100,000 portions a day.

The Olympic Games represent a grand event for peace, and there is no age limit on those who want to contribute to the event. I am proud to offer services to my fellow countrymen who this time will be competing for Olympic gold in their home country.