Michelin restaurants to fruit farms: Paris adapting to Olympic tastes

WATCH: Ross Cullen explore France's fruity solutions for the environment

Picking fruit by hand is delicate work but the farm laborers we meet on a small farm to the north of Paris are not working on a regular harvest.

‌The small berries they are selecting have an Olympic future, destined for the restaurants of the Paris 2024 athletes' village.

"We at Fruits Rouges are very proud to be a partner of the Olympics and to be able to supply the athletes and bring them fine, local, French produce," said Louis de Bussy, whose farm we visited.

"I have adapted for the fruit they want. I changed my harvest, with more or less mature berries, the size of the fruit, to adapt to what has been asked of me to provide for the Games."

The Olympics are being held in a country famous for its bread, wine, meat and cheese. But with the food and agricultural industries being huge polluters, the Games aim to reduce food miles and have French produce from small farms.

Environmental concerns are a key part of the food strategy for Paris 2024 and the raspberries grown on the farm are organic, and pesticide-free.

The fruit will end up in the Olympic Village dining halls - which will be, for a time, the world's biggest restaurant complex. 15,000 athletes will have access to six, 24-hour restaurants to feed and fuel themselves in their pursuit of medals.

There will be two dining halls dedicated to French gastronomy among other offerings for competitors with a different taste.

"Of course we have our culinary heritage,"said Charles Guilloy, executive chef for the athletes' village. "But there will be 206 delegations coming, who we will welcome to our table. It's important for us that each athlete performs to the highest level. To do that, we must respect their dietary needs."

One of the major partners for the Games is the Carrefour supermarket group, one of the world's biggest retailers.

The group has been working hard to align its green targets, its role in the Games, and place on the world stage.

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"It is certainly possible to have the ambition to be both a partner of a global event and to be engaged with the green transition and the food transition," said Eve Zuckerman, director of Carrefour's Paris 2024 partnership.

"With everything we have in place and that we will put in place we can inspire others to be part of the beautiful heritage that we will leave after September 8 and the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games."

Over the coming weeks, hundreds of thousands of athletes, dignitaries, and fans will feast on the world's most famous cuisine - from the grand dishes of Michelin-starred restaurants, down to little red fruits from family farms.

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