Sooke Chef Mike Greer, left, is working at the Olympic Athletes’s Village dining tent with Michael Smith, an Iron Chef on the Food Netwrk.Chef Mike Greer has been snapped into another type of reality — one where the cooking never stops. He is involved in the preparation of 70,000 meals a week, 12,000 meals a day at the Olympic Village dining tent in Whistler. Greer took on the gargantuan effort of feeding the 2,600 Olympic athletes after getting a leave of absence from his job at Buffy’s Pub in Sooke. He started on January 31 and will end his shift on March 21, after the Paralympic Games. The dining tent is open 24 hours a day. “It’s definitely an opportunity of a lifetime, remarkable to be a part of something this big,” said Greer by phone from Squamish. “I’m stoked about it.” Greer took on the two-month gig through his friend Chef Bill Pratt.
The two men met each other in Edmonton while working as chefs for the Canadian Armed Forces in the 1990s. Greer is now retired from the armed forces. Preparing food for so many is an intricate puzzle, where all the pieces have to be in place to make the effort run smoothly and efficiently. Greer will not be at a cooking station but is the chef in charge of receiving stores and rations and organizing the mountains of food so they are easily available for those doing the cooking. He is meeting people from all over the world, including foodies from as far away as Australia, Great Britain and all across Canada. Those from the further reaches of the globe are paid employees, while the volunteers are from areas closer to Whistler.
"That in mind, one tends to forget that there’s a whole other world out there. Surrounded by so many new people, from all over the world, is rejuvenating and soul cleansing. It snaps you out of reality in a good way,” states Greer on his blog spot. (http://billandmike.blogspot.com/).
On board for the Olympics is Iron Chef Michael Smith, a popular chef on the Food Channel. “I talk to Michael everyday,” says Greer. “He’s a super nice guy, what you see on TV is what you get. He’s a great motivator, a personable person.” Greer said Chef Michael Smith is using Greer and Pratt’s blog to send messages to his son Gabe. It is also being viewed by many of Smith’s fans from the Food Channel.
Smith is the head chef for the entire operation and is a transplanted American from New York who has been living in Prince Edward Island for the past 17 years. Greer was relaxing in his accommodations aboard the cruise ship Mona Lisa, anchored off Squamish, before the start of his 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift when he spoke to the Sooke News Mirror. The 44-year-old ship is home to half of the staff at the athlete’s village, the remainder stay in Whistler.
He said the ship was “very nice” and complete except for the entertainment and the swimming pool. Each day when Greer heads to work he has to take a bus, as walking and taxis are not allowed. The security is quite intensive and he passes through two security checkpoints on the way to work and is also checked on board the ship and at the Athletes Village.
Will he be taking in any of the games? Greer said his working partner Becky has tickets in Whistler for the biathlon on February 16 and he will take the day off to attend. Greer extols the beauty of Southern Vancouver Island and is busy promoting Sooke every chance he gets. He said his job at Buffy’s is never boring, and he enjoys the customers. “It’s a great spot to work too,” he said. Mike and his wife Lynne and daughter Tara and Christina have lived in Sooke since 1996 when he retired as a chef from the armed forces.
He has been managing Buffy’s Liquor Store for Jay and Fiona Ryan for the past four years. Greer says the Olympic experience is, “definitely quite the privilege.”
