The kitchen at the CenturyLink Center has a big role to play with the athletes competing in the U.S. Olympic Swim trials; they feed the swimmers two meals a day.
Before the swimmers hit the pool, they fuel up on whatever helps them in the water, and the CenturyLink provides what they can to help everyone succeed.
“The menus are always inclusive of fruits, vegetables, couple protein options, fresh salad, salad bars daily,” said Executive Chef Tyler Humphrey.
He said the kitchen goes through hundreds of pounds of food over the week.
“We order about 400lbs of bananas a day, so all in that 3,200 pounds of bananas, and we are making smoothie mix, that is about 50 gallons a day.”
The CenturyLink provides breakfast and dinner, and up to 700 people could be at each meal.
There are seven chefs and 40 other team members who get the food prepped, cooked, and out to eat.
The athletes get their pick from a buffet that features plenty of carbs and proteins.
“I usually eat like a beagle or yogurt or oatmeal,” said one swimmer.
“They have a large variety, I am not a very picky eater, but I know I can eat almost everything here and that is nice,” said Tyler Sesbold.
A lot of what the athletes eat is based on whether or not they swim that day.
“Day on I eat eggs, and a carb, and some fruit, and usually orange juice rather than milk. Days off it is more trying to stay healthy, but it is also to let myself eat more,” said Izzy Hurb.
Humphrey said cooking for future Olympians is a bit different than cooking for the fans across the street at the College World Series.
“I think that is the beauty of sports entertainment, we are doing two foot long fried taquitos across the street, and here it's like we want lean protein and baked potatoes,” he said.
Once the swim trials and College World Series are over, everything will go back to normal for the kitchen with their events and concerts.
