Alpine skiing-Beijing food top of menu for racers from Europe

YANQING, China : Never mind racing down a steep icy mountain slope you have never skied on before at 140 kph. It's the food at the Beijing Winter Olympics that is feeding the chatter after the men's first downhill training on Thursday.

Norway's Kjetil Jansrud and Marco Schwarz could barely contain their delight at what is being served at the athletes' village in the mountains near Yanqing where the roads, slopes, gondolas, ski lifts and accommodation were built for the Games.

"Having Chinese food every day - I love it," Jansrud said. "I love Asian food!," added Schwarz.

Others had braved some of the European dishes on offer.

"There is some Italian pasta (in the athletes' village) but it doesn’t smell like Italian pasta. But it’s fine. I must say the food is good," Italy's Christof Innerhofer said with a laugh after coming third in the training run.

However, Simon Jocher from Germany, who finished sixth on Thursday, did not want to risk changing his breakfast routine.

"I brought my own muesli from home to manage my energy household. The wasabi (condiment) here definitely packs more of a punch than at home. So I’m a little bit careful," he said.

Meanwhile, his team mate Johan Ferstl threw nutritional caution to the wind, having posted a picture of a Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food spread on social media.

"It had to be done. I am only human", he said.

(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla, additional reporting by Simon Jennings; Editing by Ken Ferris)