The Paris Olympics' pledged to double the amount of plant-based food on offer. But prioritising planetary health alongside sporting prowess has involved balancing different interests.
But even if all these promised forward strides are taken, are the Paris Olympics' food goals enough?
According to Jasmijn De Boo, chief executive of ProVeg International, a food awareness organisation, the target to serve twice as much plant-based food (than the average French person eats) is "very appropriate for an event in the global spotlight".
The goal is in keeping with France's trend towards meat reduction, De Boo points out, with a 2023 EU-funded Smart Protein report finding that France had the largest proportion of meat eaters who said that they reduced their meat intake during the previous year, with 18% reducing their consumption by 50% or more.
This also echoes the two-thirds plant-based catering goal set at 2023's Cop28 climate conference, as well as the 2024 Bonn Climate Conference's decision to serve mainly vegan food. Considering these were events specifically focused on reducing emissions, they would also have been expected "to go further than the sport-focused Paris Olympics", De Boo notes.
Fabrice DeClerck, science director at Eat, a non-profit specialising in transforming the global food system, also finds the Paris commitments "impressive", especially the decision to frame the goals in terms of "responsible" consumption.
Yet some think there is still room for improvement. DeClerck would have liked to have seen more specifics on cuts to red meat consumption. This is the biggest priority in terms of cutting carbon emissions, he explains, with the Eat Lancet commission's flexitarian diet recommending just 0-200g of red meat per week.
"Without being clear on whether the reduction they're proposing comes from red meat, then it's not clear how ambitious the Games are being," DeClerck says.
Paul Behrens, associate professor of environmental change at Leiden University in the Netherlands, notes that the Olympic targets don't go as far in promoting a plant-based diet as the national guidelines set by Germany, Spain or Denmark.
The food factor
For some athletes who've already embraced more plant-based diets, the change is welcome – but also could go further. According to Kate Strong, Britain's three-times world record-breaking cyclist, advocacy for dietary shifts would benefit from the "laser-focused attitude that people admire in athletes".
"I wish the Olympics, Paralympics and many other events unapologetically served plant-based food without having to justify it behind 'less carbon emissions,'" she says of the Paris approach. She suggests there are health benefits of a plant-based diet too, noting it can reduce footballers' oxidative stress (an imbalance in antioxidants in the body that can break down cell tissue), and another review into its advantages for endurance athletes, including improved cardiovascular protection.
Likewise, for Dotsie Bausch, a former US Olympic cyclist and founder of the non-profit Switch4Good, the Paris organisers could have done even more to educate people about the reasoning behind their targets. "I wish there was more education about the reasons why, not just sharing that targets have been set," she says. Personally, she "didn't want to be part of the killing and suffering and degradation of my planet".
Despite eating meat at almost every meal for 35 years, Bausch decided to make a change just before the 2012 Olympic Games – and credits the switch with helping achieve her silver medal.
"I made the change just before London 2012 Olympics […] and I wasn't expecting to see any performance enhancement, but I had a feeling inside that if I made sure I was getting the same micro- and macronutrients that I would thrive."
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There are a range of plant-based foods on offer at the Games. Inside the athletes' village – for example, processed items are provided by the official partner Garden Gourmet, a plant-based meat-substitute firm, whose parent company is Nestlé, the largest publicly held food company in the world.
Nestlé, however, has been criticised over its failure to adequately support emissions reductions in animal agriculture. In a recent report, the Changing Markets Foundation, a UK campaign group, analysed what 22 of the largest global meat and dairy companies invest in low carbon solutions relative to what they spend on advertising. Where the data was available, it found that these companies' overall annual spending on research and development made up, on average, less than 1% of their latest revenues.
"It is commendable that Paris Olympics are offering healthier meals with more plant-based options, as part of the strategy to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the Games. However, as a parent company of Garden Gourmet, Nestlé desperately lacks a holistic approach to scaling up plant-based products," says Nusa Urbancic, Changing Markets' chief executive.
"Our analysis shows that despite some steps in the right direction, Nestlé still does not have a target to increase its sales of plant-based products, seeing it as a purely consumer driven market. This is a missed opportunity, as science clearly shows that the transition to plant-based products offers huge climate mitigation potential," says Urbancic.
In response, a Nestlé spokesperson says that several factors drive the growth of their plant-based offerings, including the taste of products and sustainability considerations. They also note their supply chain's reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture include a 20% absolute cut by 2025 and a 50% reduction by 2030 (from a 2018 baseline).
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Despite the criticisms, the Paris games' food vision is a clear effort to better embed sustainability in international sporting events.
So even if the Olympics' plant-based ambitions aren't exactly racing at a record-breaking pace, they may yet earn a place on the podium.
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