A closer look at the meals of Vietnamese athletes at the SEA Games: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - Following feedback from several sports delegations, including some Vietnamese teams, the meals provided to athletes participating in the SEA Games have been improved.

Earlier, speaking to the Thai media, the head of the Thai sports delegation, Thana Chaiprasit, said that he had conveyed the opinions of the delegations participating in the 33rd SEA Games to the Deputy Director-General of the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), Meechai Inwood.

The feedback received by the host organizing committee (Thailand) has been addressed and changes made, including: firstly, improving the airport reception and departure process, which had caused some foreign delegations to wait for many hours; and secondly, changing the meal service for athletes from boxed meals to a buffet.

Thirdly, there's the issue of transporting teams to training grounds, which is too time-consuming and disrupts the teams' training plans. Fourthly, there's the issue of food for Muslim athletes, mainly those from Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Timor Leste. Fifthly, there's the issue of accommodation for the athletes.

The quality of meals for athletes has improved (Photo: VT).

The quality of the meals is directly proportional to the attractiveness of the competitions.

Among the issues that the host organizing committee is urgently addressing is the provision of meals for athletes, as this is a top priority. The organizing committee revealed that they will provide food that is friendly to Muslim athletes, and there will be no pork in the meals provided to delegations from Muslim-majority countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

For Vietnamese athletes, the nutritional quality of meals has improved significantly compared to the early days. Previously, lunch for athletes from some sports teams mainly consisted of boxed meals. Now, the organizing committee has switched to a buffet-style meal for the athletes.

A quick look at the meals served to several teams in the Vietnamese Sports Delegation over the past few days reveals a significantly more diverse menu. The latest meals for athletes on one team included chicken, hamburgers, spaghetti with chicken or beef bolognese sauce, stir-fried vegetables, soup, and more.

In other teams, our athletes are provided with white rice, stir-fried vegetables, mixed squid, eggs, Thai-style sauces, etc.

Of course, meals in Thailand can't compare to the familiar comfort of home-cooked meals, but the efforts of the organizing committee must still be acknowledged. Most of the feedback from the teams and delegations during the first few days of the SEA Games was noted by the host organizing committee, and they have made efforts to address the issues.

The performance of athletes in competitions is often directly proportional to the quality of their nutrition (Photo: Manh Quan).

And once the meals were improved, the quality of the competitions at the SEA Games in recent days became much more exciting. Many Games records were broken. In particular, Vietnamese athletes also made their mark with very impressive results.

Most recently, last night (December 13th), the Vietnamese 4 x 400m mixed relay team, consisting of four athletes Le Ngoc Phuc, Nguyen Thi Hang, Nguyen Thi Ngoc, and Ta Ngoc Tuong, broke the SEA Games record with a time of 3 minutes 15 seconds 07.

The day before, Nguyen Quang Thuan, the younger brother of "little mermaid" Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, nearly broke the SEA Games record in the men's 400m individual medley. The 19-year-old achieved a time of 4 minutes 19 seconds 98, just about a second faster than the record held by his compatriot Tran Hung Nguyen.

The Vietnam U22 team played with great energy against Malaysia U22, a team renowned for its physical prowess and considered one of the strongest in Southeast Asia, on December 11th. We won 2-0 and promise to continue showing resilience and energy in the coming days.

Besides meat, the menu for Vietnamese athletes in some national teams also includes vegetables (Photo: VT).

Soup (Photo: VT).

Vietnamese athletes are often commendable for their adaptability, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." We acknowledge imperfections while simultaneously adapting, so that when things improve—specifically when our athletes' diets get better—we can only get better, not worse!

Always have a backup plan.

Previously, our national football teams revealed that they have contingency plans, purchasing additional food and supplies from outside sources to supplement the players' meals when needed.

This is not the first time, nor the first international competition, or the first SEA Games, that our teams have proactively prepared their own food supplies.

Some Vietnamese sports teams always make it a habit to bring familiar food items from home, such as rice, dried seafood (chicken, fish), and some familiar spices and sauces from Vietnam like fish sauce and soy sauce, to the countries where they compete for extended periods.

This preparation ensures that our athletes always have a backup plan for supplementing their nutrition.

Good preparation, including proper nutrition, often goes hand in hand with good athletic performance (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).

Broadly speaking, this is a highly professional way of preparing, because for strong teams around the world , bringing extra food supplies, and even backup chefs, to international tournaments is considered a matter of course.

For example, the Argentine national football team revealed they brought tons of food supplies with them to the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar, including 2.6 tons of beef and 500 kg of herbs (similar to how Vietnamese people enjoy tea and coffee) as favorite drinks of players like Messi, Di Maria, De Paul, and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez…

This is done to help the athletes on our team always feel familiar and enjoy the taste of food and drinks that have the flavors of their hometown.

A distinctive feature of the 33rd SEA Games is that the event is spread across different provinces and cities throughout Thailand. Even in the capital Bangkok, athletes do not compete in a single location but are dispersed throughout the city and even in the surrounding areas. Therefore, this year's SEA Games lacks the traditional "athletes' village" found in previous editions.

The sports teams were accommodated in different hotels. This made it difficult for the organizing committee to prepare meals for the large number of athletes in the huge communal dining areas typically seen at other sporting events.

A type of pork sandwich has appeared in the meals of a team in recent days, as a way for the host organizers to offer the athletes a change of pace (Photo: VT).

Conversely, staying in individual hotels has the advantage of allowing each team to be more proactive in preparing and supplementing their own food rations if needed.

Once again, Vietnamese athletes have demonstrated our excellent adaptability. The good performance of the Vietnamese sports delegation in recent days reflects this adaptability of our athletes.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/can-canh-bua-an-cua-vdv-viet-nam-o-sea-games-nhap-gia-tuy-tuc-20251214024106073.htm