Chefs learn British cooking for Olympics

In an effort to satisfy Western tastes, Beijing Olympic organizers have sent hundreds of chefs to England to learn how to cook Western cuisine. It's an Olympian challenge, as the chefs have to master the cuisine in limited time.

Fish'n chips, bangers and mash, these are not dishes most Chinese chefs are familiar with.

In an effort to satisfy Western tastes, Beijing Olympic organizers have sent hundreds of chefs to England to learn how to cook Western cuisine.

The Chinese government has arranged for teams of top chefs to attend an English college for a crash course in Western cuisine. The chefs will cater for the influx of athletes and tourists from western countries during the Olympics in August.

Zhao Yanbin, Joint Education Committee, said, "I think it is very necessary for China to offer the genuine Western food to the foreigners. It's their need and it's our duty also."

The concentration is intense as the British chef show them the traditional western cooking methods, which is vastly different from the traditional Chinese style.

A Chinese chef said, "It's very different. In China you cook everything together, the meal and the vegetables, but in the UK it's not like this,"

In an effort to satisfy Western tastes, Beijing Olympic organizers have sent hundreds of chefs to England to learn how to cook Western cuisine.

With British food we need to measure everything and need to wait and clean everything. But in Chinese cooking you can cook all things together and it is delicious," said a Chinese chef.

With just five days to learn an entirely new cuisine, it is certainly an Olympian challenge for these chefs.

But these students are working hard to pursue gold medal results.

When they head home, they will pass on their new skills to their colleagues, and their dishes will be judged by athletes at home,and from abroad.