Nurburgring media center food

Look I know this falls under the heading of "First-world auto journalist problems," but one of the most baffling things I encounter on a regular basis is just how insanely awful the food in the Nurburgring media center is. I've become convinced it's someones long-term performance art project, and eventually they will publish some sort of experimental film or write a book or something.

The media center here is absoliutely world class.

Room for hundreds of press. Tons of monitors. Great staff. Lightning fast internet. Everything you'd ever want to both do your job and be comfortable doing it.

Until you get to the snack table...

There's a tray of this:

There's a few bowls of this:

Some of these have sunk in their containment liquid bath:

Oh did you want something to wash it down with? Did you say "room temperature soda"? Buddy do we have you covered!

If you parents ever send you to a summer camp with food like this you should immediately call child protective services.

I don't want this to come off like sour grapes. This is really one of the best places to do my job I've ever been to. But, you know, just send someone to Costco with the company credit card or something.

This makes the Daytona media center look like a Michelin star restaurant!

Though I will say, when I went to Texas Motor Speedway last month...the pizza that was promised never arrived, and the "free cooler of frozen custard all weekend" was empty before the first race of the weekend (and it didn't get refilled the whole time I was there).

Hey, I see dirty water dogs, so it's not a total loss. I say you roll a couple of those up in the plastified noodles lurking in the corners of that warming pan and eat with your fingers to prove the point that it's crap food, and beneath your refined tastes.

Someone in Germany decided decades ago that ice cold drinks that aren't beer based are bad for one's health...

In reply to Austin Cannon :

Man, that's lame. I would have been broken if I had been promised free frozen custard but then didn't get any.

BoxheadTim said:

Someone in Germany decided decades ago that ice cold drinks that aren't beer based are bad for one's health...

JG, if only you knew that lunch in Germany includes a cold beer at the Pistenklause Pizzeria just down the hill from the track lap entrance.

Of course they have not beer too, just for you.

In reply to Colin Wood :

I walked half a mile to the Andy's Frozen Custard stand to buy some, because I needed it real bad.

In reply to Austin Cannon :

Andy's is so good, but I can barely finish their smaller sizes. So rich.

Wait...are they pouring the bottles of soda into tiny cups instead of giving you full size ones? 

Paris Van Gorder said:

Wait...are they pouring the bottles of soda into tiny cups instead of giving you full size ones? 

Yes, but at least they are tepid and in no way refreshing.

I guess there's a reason you don't often hear the phrase German hospitality. It looks like they're trying to get out of having to feed people in the future. 

Boy, it sure would be terrible if you had to leave the media center and go eat what the paying customers have to eat. You might even get some of the culture of the event on you.

Keith Tanner said:

Boy, it sure would be terrible if you had to leave the media center and go eat what the paying customers have to eat. You might even get some of the culture of the event on you.

Coming' in hot on a Thursday evening! I can vouch for JG's willingness to eat local food--I log his receipts. Sometimes, we also bring our readers behind the scenes to see what it's like there, too. It's, like, the job.

To be honest, most media center food is awful. The best? Martinsville Speedway. They got the signature hot dogs there. Be sure to exit the media center often for air, though.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

That would make me sad. Do you at least get full size water bottles? 

In reply to J.A. Ackley :

I have to make it to Martinsville one day, just to try those hot dogs.

So, the best media center food? Hyundai’s spread at Pikes Peak in 2011.

Really? Yup.

I was actually there with Suzuki which, as I recall, didn’t involve much. I remember scoring a Subaru press car for the trip and staying with family. Maybe they got me a room the night before the race. Plus we all went to some caverns the day before the race. 

I arrived at the hill early the morning of the race with my wife and Steven Cole Smith. Most of the course was already paved, so we wanted to view from a dirt section.

We arrived, parked and, once the sun came up, walked to the side of the course. 

And there’s Derek Joyce from Hyundai with a tube of donuts.

“Donut?” has asked. 

If you parents ever send you to a summer camp with food like this you should immediately call child protective services.

That, to me, came across as being over dramatic. Manufactured outrage.

Looking at those pics, I also see some good looking apples and rolls, what looks like a pretty solid salad in the background and some toasted sandwiches with lots of green. Plus, warming in hot water is the correct way to serve some types of sausages. Is it really so terrible or is it just not an American BBQ?

Maybe the complaint is contextual. After all, if there were grocery store plastic wrapped mini donuts on there it would probably be viewed poorly, but if someone hands you one when you're watching the Pikes Peak race then it's the best media center food ever.

I suspect those sausages are Wienerle (Vienna sausages) and if they are, that's the correct way to keep them warm. 

Keith Tanner said:

If you parents ever send you to a summer camp with food like this you should immediately call child protective services.

That, to me, came across as being over dramatic. Manufactured outrage.

To me that looks like a humorous exaggeration, but that's the beauty and problem with the written word. We don't always know the feeling behind it.

BoxheadTim said:

Someone in Germany decided decades ago that ice cold drinks that aren't beer based are bad for one's health...

I can't say from personal experience, but isn't that pretty much all of Europe?

I've heard good things of Spain and ice content in drinks 

I spent a whole summer in Germany, and even the best German food isn't that much better than what I'm seeing in those photos.

There's a reason that the German's created those poop-shelf toilets.

Keith Tanner said:

Looking at those pics, I also see some good looking apples and rolls, what looks like a pretty solid salad in the background and some toasted sandwiches with lots of green. Plus, warming in hot water is the correct way to serve some types of sausages. Is it really so terrible or is it just not an American BBQ?

I have to agree.  Are we in fact looking a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak?

Most of the problem, as I see it, is that the OP is running too far back in the pack.  You need to get off the line quicker, and jockey for a position closer to the front of the pack.  Hungry journalists are obviously a competitive bunch.

Mr_Asa said:

BoxheadTim said:

Someone in Germany decided decades ago that ice cold drinks that aren't beer based are bad for one's health...

I can't say from personal experience, but isn't that pretty much all of Europe?

I've heard good things of Spain and ice content in drinks 

Not necessarily having ice in drinks is a bit of a European thing, but the further South you go, the easier it is to find chilled drinks. Not always with ice, but at least the soda or water should be cold.

Just think of how much more pop you get in the cup with no ice! Better than McDonald's who fill it halfway with ice and charge like the pop is made from gold