The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are just around the corner, and while all eyes are understandably on the athletes, behind the scenes professional chefs are showing off their culinary skills. During the Games, the restaurants in the Olympic Village will be feeding tens of thousands of athletes, while the surrounding canteens will be catering for special guests and media teams. Ahead of the official opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, we spoke to six-time Olympic chef, Chef Melissa Chickelneo.
With over 24 years of chef experience, Chickelneo is Executive Chef at Behind the Scenes Catering and Events (BTS) in San Diego, California. During the 2024 Paris Olympics, she and her team will be preparing food for key sponsors, VIPs, and National Olympic Committees. “My Olympic experience gave me the opportunity to cook with local chefs using local ingredients,” says Chef Chickelneo. With the Paris menu all set, she shared the must-have kitchen tools that she and her team will use in the kitchen, from Japanese slicers to Nespresso espresso makers. Best of all, everything she picked is on sale.
Olympic chef reveals must-have kitchen tools
- Benriner Japanese Mandolin, $49, retail price $55
- Nespresso VertuoPlus Espresso Maker, $170, original price $200
- Starfrit Electric Rotary Peeler, $20, retail price $25
- Vitamix 5200 Blender, $400, original price $550
- Vollum Vegetable Spiralizer, $53, list price $61
- Polyscience Smoking Gun, $120, original price $150
Benriner Japanese made mandolin
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“Benriner mandolins are known as the best,” says Chef Chickelneo. “They're portable, compact, and stay sharp for a long time.” She and her team use the mandolins to quickly shave radishes and julienne carrots.
Nespresso Vertuo Plus Espresso Maker
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To energize his team each year, Chef Tschickelneo relies on his Nespresso espresso maker. “Needless to say, many of us at Olympic work long hours and endure jet lag, so coffee is key to survival!” Tschickelneo calls the Nespresso espresso machine “a long-standing tradition in most Olympic workplaces.” In a high-stress environment like the Olympics, Tschickelneo appreciates the espresso maker's compact size, ease of use and consistency. “You just add water and a pod and voila! Espresso!”
Starfrito Rotato Peeler
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“At our luxury hospitality house, we're featuring a 'French 75' cocktail: a traditional French 75 with a fresh lemon twist. We plan to make more than 3,000 of this cocktail over the course of the tournament.” To make the lemon twists efficiently and uniformly, Chickelneo is bringing in a Starfrito Rotato peeler. “It was originally designed for peeling potatoes and apples, but we found that it can make 15 lemon twists in about 10 seconds, which saves bartenders hours of labor. And the best part is, the lemon twists are almost always the same.”
Vitamix 5200 Blender
“A Vitamix blender is an essential tool in any professional kitchen,” says Chef Chickerneo. “It's great for creating fresh vinaigrettes, smooth soups, and emulsified sauces. Just today, one of our chefs made a fantastic raspberry coulis to use as a garnish for a tart citron.” This Vitamix 5200 blender is our #1 pick for a professional-grade blender, and it's nearly 30% off.
Vollum Vegetable Spiralizer
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At this year's Paris Olympics, Chef Chickelneo is paying homage to French cuisine with a Vollum vegetable spiralizer. “In true French cooking, no dish is complete without a garnish,” says Chickelneo. “We use the spiralizer for everything from simple carrot ribbons to garnish salads to raw celery root slaw to accompany our Beef Bourguignon hors d'oeuvres. And the best part is, it doesn't need any power.”
Conclusive evidence of polyscience
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“Our remit is to create delicious and exciting food for our guests who will be eating three meals a day with us for over 10 weeks, so it's great to have a tool like the Polyscience Smoking Gun to help us stretch our creativity,” says Chickelneo of the opportunity his team has to innovate during the Olympics. Chef Chickelneo's team has used the tool to create popular dishes that are “always crowd-pleasers,” such as “Smoked Baby Carrots with Local Honey and Toasted Pistachios” and “Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette.”
