MD, in Dakar… even in the kitchen!

The Dakar is an event that moves more than 3,000 people from camp to camp. In this 2023 edition, it has made it up to 9 different points of Saudi Arabia (finally eight due to route changes due to rain). The challenge logistics on the hardest test in the world, in all respects, it is huge. And the clearest example is in the kitchen. MD enters Dakar’s kitchen to tell his best-kept secrets.

In the middle of each other bivouac A central square is located where the competitors meet every day to carry out the ‘briefing’ before the stage, or where they meet with other colleagues around the bonfire, in front of the screen that broadcasts the summaries throughout the day and night. of various stages and reports. There in front was one of the sacred points of the bivouac, the dining room or catering area. At any time you go, you can access the breakfast, lunch and dinner assigned to each member of the Dakar caravan. The organization even has a solution in case someone arrives in the dining room outside the set time for each meal, as well as for contestants who arrive later due to stage complications, offering a dish that has been prepared by kitchen so that no one leaves without food.rations.

9,000 covers a day and kitchen on wheels

Think of the challenge. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to 3,000 people means a total of 9,000 servings of food per day. If we add to this that the Dakar caravan has moved to other camps, and when they arrive, the kitchens must be set up and running, things become more complicated. And not only that, food is a very sensitive material and any mistake can lead to food poisoning affecting the participants and their teams. The challenge is enormous.

The organization (ASO) He has to take care of a lot of details to make everything go smoothly during the 14 days of the stage, including the previous prologue stage, the rest day and the days before the race. That is, altogether, some 19 or 20 days. How do they get it? We found this out with the help of ASO

Three ‘teams’ rolling

To find out the answers, MD spoke with Christophe Puginier, the head of operations and logistics of the ASO, the head of the complex plan that is the Dakar carried out so that no one is left without food rations.

“Throughout Dakar we are talking about 170,000 meals more or less. That involves important logistics”He says Puginierwhich highlights that the race works in three teams that each work in a different bivouac.

First is the initial groupthe one that comes before the bivouac after the race destination a few days later, a team of 20 people in charge of setting up kitchens, defrosting food and setting up lines where people get their rations. The second team is the ‘main’, which consists of about 80 people in the bivouac where the race is currently being held. This team is responsible for defrosting, heating and serving food.

And finally, there is the ‘closing’ teamwho is responsible for clean and dismantle the kitchen. Once everything is disassembled, These kitchens separate the two bivouacs, to set up the kitchen in the next camp where the race goes, and so, when it comes, everything is gathered. While the group of people do not go beyond any cheer and go to the next, to perform the ‘closing’ of that camp. This is the case with other groups of people, who from bivouac to bivouac do the same work. There was only one fixed element: the large tent that served as the dining room, which “required about 15 days to assemble.” That’s why there are different tents set up the day before the race passes there at each stop point on the route.

airplane food

To feed all participants, Dakar needs to have a supplier with the highest sanitary control, who offers the highest guarantee, with a large production and who, in turn, can bring food to all the camps in the different part of the country. So he needed a big company and he found what he was looking for Saudi Airlines Cateringthe catering company of Saudi airlines.

This large organization has 8 central kitchens scattered throughout the territory that manage the production and freezing of food, and it is transported in refrigerated trucks to the bivouac at night before it is consumed. In total, about 4.5 tons of food arrives every day to meet the demand. And all the frozen rations that are left can go back in the same refrigerated truck to Saudia’s central kitchens for another destination, thus avoiding the waste of leftover food. In the case of ripe fruit or other products that do not arrive frozen, the organization already considers a more modest amount to avoid food waste.

a nutritionist

To select a menu with the caterer, ASO works with a nutritionist so that competitors can meet their nutritional needs upon reaching the stages.

“Dinner is designed for the competitors. Lunch, no, because there are no competitors. The evening is planned with a nutritionist, with carbohydrates and proteins, all measured in grams. The nutritionist meets with the catering company and negotiates with them to develop the menu. We are also looking for something different from one day to the next, which can be frozen and thawed. There are thousands of things you should think about. A menu was established and in September and October we did a test in Saudi Arabia. We tried and adapted it”declared Christophe Puginier.

“Emergency” Food

Besides said food, there is another type of tray called “emergency”, designed for competitors who arrive late. If, for example, a competitor or someone from the bivouac comes to the dining room for dinner at 1 in the morning, they will deliver that tray, easily defrosted and heated in the oven in minutes to eat immediately . MD tried some of those trays after finishing work late. For example, one of the servings is sausage macaroni and cheese.

Pasta all day

Everything is taken care of in detail, although for taste, colors. There are better days and worse days, foods that are more successful and others less so, but for those who don’t like the food of a certain day, Pasta is available every hour of the day (boiled in the bivouac kitchen) and there is a possibility to choose between two different sauces (It’s usually tomato and cream of mushroom or pesto), as well as the ability to add a little Parmigiano.

A meeting place where cracks also go

Among those 3,000 people, in many cases you will see talented pilots and co-pilots, who come to the dining room even though they have kitchen service in their own teams. They do this to experience the Dakarian environment, to be with their team or to share a chat with other participants. Mechanics, engineers, journalists, pilots and members of the organization, sharing long tables and stories that are hard to forget.