All eyes on the menu as ministers fend off criticism

Hosting at least 106 and perhaps as many as 120 of the world's heads of state and government – kings sultans, princes, presidents, prime ministers and the like – would seem like a virtuoso performance in ego juggling.

But most are trying to avoid anything that their press or voters might construe as extravagance, especially at a summit focused on poverty.

After embarrassing stories about lavish entertainment at the Food Summit in Rome last month – when hunger was the theme – the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, gave instructions to avoid a repeat in Johannesburg.

And so not one of the leaders, it appears, has yet given instructions for a daily bath in lukewarm milk as the film star Faye Dunaway did when she stayed in the Intercontinental Hotel across the road from the Sandton Convention Centre, where the summit is being held.

John de Canha, the operations director for the Intercontinental hotels in the Southern Sun group, said: "Funnily enough, the politicians are not that demanding. Not in the way of unusual or eccentric requirements."

The challenge is less about meeting odd demands than it is about the need for military-style precision in ensuring world leaders are not held up by lifts as they swoop down from their suites to the summit. And also in making sure that sworn enemies do not run into each other – preferably by accommodating them in separate hotels.

But for all the talk of sustainable catering, the world leaders will not have to slum it.

Twenty-four extra chefs have been hired for one hotel and food orders have been more than quadrupled.

"We have hired three refrigerated trucks for the Sandton Convention Centre and made sure we stocked up on everything in advance," Mr de Canha said. "We anticipate we will be serving 6,000 meals there every day, but it will be fast foods like salads, sandwiches and muffins."

At the hotels and summit, delegations are expected to eat their way through 1,000kg of fillet beef, 1,000kg of kingclip, 1,000kg of chicken breasts, 200kg of salmon, 500kg of bacon and sausages, buckets of Beluga caviar, 5,000 champagne oysters and 500kg of shellfish.

Desmond Morgan, the executive chef of the Michelangelo hotel in Sandton – hosting between 15 and 20 heads of state, including Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah – said he had set up a separate kitchen with its own revolving, 24-hour staff of five people to service the teams of chefs accompanying certain leaders.

Since the conference precinct became a UN zone from yesterday, all countries will be subject to the UN democratic order.

"All states and leaders will get the same treatment," South Africa's ambassador to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, said. If there is any discrimination, it is on the basis of who is more involved in the negotiations at the summit.

A local mineral water company has been contracted to provide 40,000 bottles of water at the convention centre, as well as at hotels. Organic food will be served at the centre, and packaging will be fully recyclable.

"We've kept everything in the spirit of what the summit is all about – sustainable development," Mr de Canha said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for us."