British Airways reveals Olympic-inspired menu

The start of the 2012 Olympics might seem months away, kicking off on 27 July, but athletes have been in preparation for months. And they're not the only ones. British Airways has just announced its Olympic menu, which has been created by Simon Hulstone (having been mentored by Heston Blumenthal for the last year).

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Hulstone's British Airway's Olympic menu includes the likes of rillette of mackerel dressed on a pickled cucumber carpaccio, fish pie using sustainable sourced hake, and chilled chocolate fondant with a salted caramel liquid centre, caramel sauce and spun sugar topped with hazelnuts. And as a nod to our culinary heritage, the 2012 menu features ingredients that appeared on the airline's menu when Britain hosted the Olympics in 1948.

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But is Olympic-themed food just an excuse for more hype? If it means a celebration of British food, that's always a good thing in my opinion. Why shouldn't we showcase our gastronomic heritage? Around three million British Airways customers will tuck into the menu throughout the London 2012 Games, so it's a prime opportunity to demonstrate what Britain can put on a plate. The Olympics is a chance for Britain to show the world what it's made of (gravy, Marmite and crumble, obviously). Inevitably though, this also means the potential for food haunts to do two things:

1. Place an Olympic-sized mark-up on food.

2. Wax lyrical about how great British food is, and then serve up cheap imitations.

As long as Olympic-inspired menus avoid these two things, they get my vote. But no mark-ups please, especially when we're peckish.

What do you think about Olympic-themed menus and food? Will you be curious to see what restaurants rustle up, or do you think its just an excuse to hype things up? Have you eaten any Olympic-inspired food yet, and what was your verdict? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.