Korean athletes get 'rice power' driven to their door away from home

MILAN, Feb 13 : Preparations start months in advance to ensure Korean athletes at the Olympics have a plentiful supply of their favourite food from home. 

Under a project first introduced at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and expanded to the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee sets up dedicated cooking facilities close to their athletes' residences.

For the Milano Cortina Games, the top three locations - Milan, Cortina and Livigno - each have their own facility, from which insulated bags depart twice a day to bring athletes the comfort of their accustomed food.

"It only takes 15 or 20 minutes from the kitchens to each ... Olympic Village," said Lee Dahyun, a manager at Korea's national training centre, standing in the airy Milan cooking facility at a small guesthouse with glass walls facing a leafy courtyard. 

Before a van can drive the meals, the kitchen chefs meticulously distribute the contents of several large trays among the various compartments of neatly lined lunch boxes which then get stacked up in the bags alongside steel thermos holding soups.

"Koreans really care about food," said Lee, quoting a Korean proverb about "rice power" - the energy Koreans draw from eating rice. 

"It shows how we think food is really important," she said, adding that what had started out as a way to meet requests from athletes had developed into "an essential project for Team Korea".

NUTRITIONIST SUPERVISES MENUS

A nutritionist oversees the daily menus which are prepared by staff from the national training centre for the 130-athlete delegation, with over 200 meals delivered across the three locations between lunch and dinner every day. 

"We really do our best to recreate the same environment: the same