Gastrosport or the art of cuisine at the service of athletes closes Sports Tomorrow Congress (WOM+N)2021
Gastrosport is a word that has yet to appear in official dictionaries but is a term increasingly used in the sports industry. It is basically a field that combines sports nutrition with gastronomy, i.e. it is a fusion of the work done by nutritionists on the one hand and by chefs on the other.
So does it make sense to talk about sports gastronomy? This is one of the main questions that the different chefs, nutritionists and academics have tried to answer on the fifth and final day of the Sports Tomorrow Congress (WOM+N)2021 which took place today, Friday, in the Auditori 1899.
Ian Rollo, of the Gatorade Science Institute, opened the session to explain how nutritionists and chefs should interact: “They come from different worlds but speak the same language. On the one hand, sports nutrition seeks the functionality of food for the body of athletes. And on the other hand, chefs adore food and cooking. Gastrosport is just a combination of both specialities. Ultimately, it is a matter of breaking down barriers between chefs and nutritionists.”
Next to speak was Askel Jeukendrup, one of the world's leading specialists in sports nutrition, a triathlete, and a professor at Loughborough University & Mysportscience in London. Jeukendrup was very concise in explaining Gastrosport, which he defines as "the art of transforming science into something that tastes good on the plate."
For his part, Graeme Close, a sports nutrition advisor to the England rugby team and the European golf circuit, explained how food influences the athlete's motivation. "Food is in the mood!" he says. "It has to have excellent taste, and making it fun and colourful can boost a team's morale."
Chef Xavier Pellicer, owner of the restaurant that bears his name and who in 2018 was considered by the We're Smart Green Guide to be the best vegetable restaurant in the world, also took part in today's event. "In general terms" he said, "to be pleasant and easy to digest, meals should contain 70 per cent vegetable ingredients and 30 per cent protein. A balance must be struck between the two, but plant-based diets are likely to outperform protein-based diets."
Regarding the relationship between chefs and athletes, Antoni Audebaud, who was Ousmane Dembélé's personal chef and currently works for several professional players, said that his work is often valued in terms of player performance. "My result as a chef does not shine if there is no result on the pitch" he says. "A normal chef serves a dish, and it is assessed on whether it is good or not, and that’s it. We look for performance and our reward is the player's success on the pitch."
Audebaud also pointed out the importance of coordinating personal chefs with sports clubs' nutrition departments, as is the case, for example, with FC Barcelona, in order to be able to plan the players' menu for the week according to the their competitive activity and make it as attractive as possible without repeating meals.
FC Barcelona is one of the leading clubs in this field. In 2019, it published, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona and Gatorade, a recipe book called "High Performance Nutritional Cuisine. Practical Recipes for Football," which includes a series of recipes created by FC Barcelona nutritionists that are served to first team players and other club athletes. The book, which has been updated with new recipes, was written by the club’s nutritionists Toña Lizarraga and Mireia Porta, along with Ian Rollo, Xavier Torrado and Montse Illán.
The Gastrosport track was the last at the Sports Tomorrow Congress (WOM+N)2021, which closed this year's edition with more than two 2,000 registered attendees from 80 countries, of which 75 percent were there in person and the rest attended digitally. The Congress has included more than 75 hours of content across 154 sessions, in which 282 speakers have participated. Some of the most notable names have been footballer Frenkie de Jong, NBA player Marc Gasol, FC Barcelona basketball player Àlex Abrines and Barça Femení players Alexia Putellas, Marta Torrejón and Mariona Caldentey, along with team coach Jonatan Giráldez. Although it is now over, the full content of the conference will be available until December 30 for all present or future registrants.