Ann Killion’s postcard
A word about the most important meal of the day. Breakfast is exactly that, as you can’t be sure when you’ll eat again.
A word about the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast really is exactly that at the Olympics, because once you leave your dwelling, you can’t be sure when you’ll eat again.
The last time I was in Japan, at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, I stayed in a media village where the dining hall provided both traditional Japanese breakfast foods as well as trays of watery scrambled eggs and underdone bacon. It took me about 30 seconds to learn to appreciate miso soup, grilled fish and steamed rice for breakfast and I was looking forward to that Olympic diet again.
Alas, at the hotel where I’m staying, things are a bit more westernized. Because of COVID19 protocols, we are given Styrofoam “bento boxes” in a plastic bag. There is a vegetarian and nonvegetarian option: I’ve learned to take the nonveg for the piece of smoked salmon that’s usually included.
The assumption is that visitors will want to eat bread for breakfast. Lots and lots of bread. The boxes generally come with at least three different kinds of bread, some tiny triangles of Americanstyle cheese and cold cuts, and little mysterious bits of other things. Sometimes a tablespoon of potato salad, or a miniature scoop of penne pasta, a tiny piece of grilled squash.
There is an accompanying chart that lists what’s in the box and what might be an allergen, in teenytiny print (note to self: Don’t lose my reading glasses because though Tokyo convenience stores sell everything from sushi to dress shirts to fried chicken to Jim Beam, they do not sell cheaters and I have yet to find a store that does).
It’s not as good as miso soup, but I try to eat almost all of it because God knows when I will forage for food again.
There are vending machines all over Tokyo but not on the buses, where Olympic reporters spend most of our time.
The best thing about the hotel breakfast is my second favorite piece of Japanese technology, after the basketball robot. It’s a beautiful coffee machine that spits out cappuccino after cappuccino.
Caffeine is truly the most important part of the Olympic reporter’s day.