The Olympics give me such a feeling of awe, admiration, and inspiration.
I still remember watching Michelle Kwan in the wee hours as she competed at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano. Her glorious Lyra Angelica program and simple sky blue dress made me want to get off the couch and onto the ice to learn to skate backward properly. I took my first figure skating lesson that year, landed my first axel five years later, and still skate twice a week.
The Games highlight extraordinary feats of athleticism, but also offer a lens into the host city’s art, music, and food culture—the perfect muse for our first Sports Issue.
When I attended the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, I spent as much time going to restaurant pop-ups to learn about other countries’ food and history as I did cheering on the divers, gymnasts, and women’s basketball players. I still get chills when I think about the Brazilians in the Olympic Park me erupting into the song “Cidade Maravilhosa” as their team won the soccer gold medal, and later we toasted with caipirinhas and ate pastels filled with shrimp and cheese.
I have been positively giddy about this year’s games in Paris. The 2024 Games will be the most diverse, with more women competing than ever before. With that knowledge, we decided it was time for a fresh look at the French capital’s culinary landscape. Could we write about Paris sans baguettes, we asked?
In this month’s magazine, writer Lindsey Tramuta does just that, with a new guide to dining in the City of Light that highlights flavors from West Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, cuisines that have come to define its ever-evolving restaurant scene just as much as confit duck. Also in this Sports Issue, you’ll meet Olympians who say their plant-based diet makes them stronger and fitter, and we’ll take you to Kentucky for a tailgate hosted by chef Sam Fore (page 60). And, of course, you’ll find plenty of seasonal recipes to fuel your weeknights if cooking is your sport of choice.
Where to Eat in Olympic Cities
Montreal
The Olympic stadium of the 1976 Summer Games was nicknamed the Big O for its circular shape. That letter always makes me think of the bagels from St-Viateur, which I think are some of the best in North America.
Atlanta
In the words of Atlanta’s native son, André 3000, the 1996 Centennial Games showed us “the South got something to say.” Bacchanalia, chef Anne Quatrano’s farm-to-table palace, opened just three years before and remains every bit as iconic.
Rio de Janiero
Chef Alberto Landgraf’s restaurant Oteque is an ode to Brazilian ingredients, with an emphasis on seafood. The two-Michelin-starred destination is in the center of the Botafogo neighborhood, known for its soccer teams