Postcard | To consume with moderation

Journalists love coffee and beer. And China, it was not prepared for that.

Emilie Bilodeau
The Press

The Olympics have taken off at breakneck speed in the mountains of Zhangjiakou. There are often two or three events a day in which Quebecers have a chance of performing. However, on Friday, the schedule was a little quieter.

French-speaking journalists met at the Green Dragon, a hidden restaurant, but increasingly popular because it is located in the Olympic bubble. And it is above all one of the few that serve Chinese food, not “international” dishes.

At our table equipped with plexiglass panels, Simon and I shared cucumber and shrimp salad, pork meatballs, braised cabbage, green onion pancakes and rice with an Agence France-Presse reporter. At the other table next door, the gang from The Canadian Press and the Quebec newspaper chose other plates.

We ordered Tsingtao beers to wash down our meal, in the greatest tradition of international sports journalism. But there was no more Tsingtao!

It was the waitress who told us, in fact, who wrote it down and translated it on her phone. She offered us Hoegaarden instead. But after a tour, there was no more Hoegaarden or any other beer in the restaurant full of reporters.

Local beer is also out of stock in the restaurants of the Prince Hotel, the mega-establishment where most journalists and Olympic employees stay. Simon and I have settled in a hotel a little out of the way, at the end of a cul-de-sac, where you can still find cans of Yanjing. But for how much longer?

Colleges in Beijing don’t run out of beer, but they have to watch their coffee consumption.

Alex sent us a pretty funny picture of the National Sports Palace, where they cover the Canadian men’s and women’s team hockey games.

“Dear journalists, due to the recent huge consumption of coffee, we hope that all journalists can share; it will be better for you if you drink coffee in moderation,” the blue sign reads, in English.

With the busy schedules of the Games and completely atypical deadlines, it would be misunderstanding journalists to think that they are going to moderate their coffee consumption.

And beer too.