The Food of Olympians

We had every intention of eating a healthy lunch on Saturday. There is a new place in town serving foods from the Amazon – lots of fresh fruits, juices and healthy sandwiches I hear.

I tried to go with a friend last week only to find they were closed at lunch. However, she had been on the weekend so my husband and I thought we’d give it a try. We were disappointed to see the gate still locked at 12:30pm. Apparently lunch wasn’t going over so well so they moved the opening time to 3:00pm.

So we went off in search of another option. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but there are no other options for lunch on the weekend here. Okay, there are a few, but not all that exciting. You can have your choice of any food court fast food at the mall (which we didn’t feel like walking to) or you can eat at McDonald’s. Guess where we ended up.

In futher defense of my case that I had healthy intentions we did walk down to another sandwich shop which wasn't open. It wasn’t our fault, it is those darn McDonald’s advertising campaigns that sucked us in. We rounded the corner to see this sign out front.

Since we all know that top elite athletes fuel their fit physiques with fast food before competition (this is sarcasm) the golden arches introduced an China menu in honor of the Olympics. The choices included the Beijing Burger, Sticks of Rice, a Sundae with fried bananas and some drink that didn’t make much sense.

My husband was adventurous and gave the feature menu a try. I did taste everything and let’s just say I won’t be heading back to the place any time soon to have it again.

The burger was like a basic hamburger with some takeout Chinese food on top. The rice sticks tasted like something I’d had before, but I couldn’t quite identify it. The closest thing I could think of is that it was like a corn dog without the hot dog inside.
We saw a ton of people trying out the same foods. I’m not sure what the reactions would be of Brazilian’s, but we weren’t too impressed. We just had it for the sake of trying something new.

Now, in fairness I didn’t try the sundae. That actually looked pretty good. With my new found love of fried bananas I’d probably end up liking so it is best not to even tempt myself.

So I’m wondering if there is a similar menu in the U.S. My first thought is no, because I can’t see how these foods would be appealing there, but I could definitely be wrong. I stand by my feeling that Chinese food, even when concocted by McDonalds, is not good in Brazil.