SINGAPORE — Hainanese chicken rice, pasta and steak are some of the 120 Asian and Western dishes the 28th SEA Games organisers will serve the 7,000 athletes and officials at the region’s biggest sporting event that will be held in Singapore next month.

With participants arriving before the Games official opening on June 5, the Singapore South-east Asian Games Organising Committee (SINGSOC) said it will start serving meals from May 24 across 20 hotels that will host the sportsmen and sportswomen.

Eight athletes from Team Singapore, including track sprinters Shanti Pereira and Calvin Kang, and the media were invited to sample 10 dishes from the Games menu at the Raffles City Convention Centre at Swissotel The Stamford Singapore today (May 5) and the general consensus was that the food is of a high standard.

“I will give it a nine out of 10 overall,” said 25-year-old Kang. “The food was really tasty today; I especially liked the Thai chilli prawns and the beef cubes and am now looking forward to pick from the full menu when the Games start.”

Pereira gave the food an eight rating and added: “My pick was the pan-seared beef because it had great texture. I like to see what other athletes say when they try it.”

But if they hope their favourite fried dishes will also be on offer, they will not find much of it, said SINGSOC’s culinary consultant Kenneth Francisco. “Fried food is cut down,” said the food expert, who was also head of culinary operations for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games here in 2010 and consultant to the Pan American Games in Mexico the following year. “We will only be pan-frying or shallow-frying the food, and using canola oil, as it is healthier.”

Planning for the menu began two years ago and Kirsty Fairbairn, head and senior sports dietician at the Sports Science Institute, said the nutritional needs of athletes were topmost on their minds.

 “The focus of the menu is to keep it healthy and nourishing, but also tasty. I am a strong believer in the fact that a healthier diet is far tastier than an unhealthy diet, so there will also be low-fat, higher-protein food for athletes.”

Organisers are equally concerned about the quality of the food served and will follow the recommendations set by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to prevent any outbreak of food diseases, said Francisco. He said the quality of braised or stewed red meat, for one, can quickly deteriorate if it is not served at the right temperature.

“The NEA won’t allow any food to be served hot and the temperature must not fall below 70°C,” he added. “We also have fixed the timings for the athletes to have their meals and if they are competing at these times, warm snacks will be delivered to them at the competition venues.”

Added SINGSOC’s chief of national Olympic councils and sport Bob Gambardella: “I think there is going to be something for everybody and the menu caters to everyone’s taste. The athletes will come to the dining facilities in their hotels and they will see that there will be something for everyone.”