Olympic Food Challenge

204 Nations
19 Days
11 Foodies
1 Challenge

During the last world cup I decided that it would be fun to cook meals from the teams that were involved in the evening matches.  This was a rewarding challenge, I had never considered the food of the Ivory coast before, never mind cooked it.

With the Olympics being held this summer I decided to do the same again but it isn't that simple.  To start with, there are 204 nations taking part in the 2012 London Olympics.  Now I like my food, but I also know my limitations.  204 meals in 19 days just isn't happening.  I started to think about drawing names out of an Olympic hat but then what if I only drew out European countries? I could seed the countries to ensure that I only cooked from two western nations over the duration of the event.  None of these ideas filled me with joy because I knew I'd miss out on something somewhere along the line.

Then, during a conversation on Twitter, I realised what the answer to my prayers was.  I need to enlist other food bloggers to the cause and share out the countries so that every nation is eaten and nothing is missed.  Sure I'll only eat 19 meals during the event, but with the combined writing, we'll all be able to see the examples of national cookery and choose dishes that we'd like to try ourselves.

Between now and the start of the Olympics (two days before the official opening ceremony) I need to recruit a team of hardened food bloggers, draw lots and distribute the national lists so that people have some time to research their countries' national dishes.

So, if you are interested in finding out about food that you have never cooked before, like a challenge and have a food blog please get in touch.  I will not ask you to change the style of your blog.  If you tend to post full recipes, fine.  If you like a lot of photographs, that's OK.  If, like me, you ramble off topic and eventually get to the foodie part, what's wrong with you, it's a food blog you're writing not war and peace.

For me at least, the countdown to the Olympic Games now has a meaning.  I hope to be in touch with YOU soon.  If you want to join in, please comment below.

Ewan

***UPDATE***

What can I say, the response has been fantastic.  There are now 12 of us intrepid food bloggers who have taken up the Olympic Food Challenge which is due to start on Wednesday 25th July.  To find out more about them and the countries that they have been allocated and please follow the link to the Olympic Food Challenge blog.

Thank you to everybody that has joined up.