Chef Ian Edge serves claret and cordon bleu for Aston Villa
Sep 12 2008 By Alison Dayani, Health Correspondent
VILLA play in claret and blue, but the team has now gone green in a bid to get an edge over Premier League rivals.Manager Martin O’Neill’s sport and health experts have given food for thought to the team’s secret weapon – vitamin-packed organic food.
Head chef Ian Edge now rustles up dishes to give footballers natural enhancers so they don’t need to take supplements.
The 51-year-old has an a-la-carte mini-kitchen, with two ovens and a microwave, on the club coach to feed players with the best food as soon as they finish an away match. It’s the important “optimum hour” to enhance muscles.
Father-of-four Ian, from Halesowen, said: “Food is very important to sports stars and particularly after a game, there is an hour of opportunity when they need to eat to get optimum muscle strength, so I hand out meals on the coach on the way home.
“Footballers know how important food is to their profession and nine out of ten times, they go for the healthiest option. Their body fat is monitored closely.
“If by using organic food, we can make that one per cent difference to the players, then it is worth it.”
Ian, a West Bromwich Albion fan who trained at Halesowen College, said Jim Henry, health and fitness manager, and sports dietician Irene Riach, brought in with O’Neill from Celtic, called the Soil Association to help them source the best local organic produce.
“O’Neill’s team has been very big on using organic food at the training ground in Bodymoor Heath and I feed everyone from the youth team, to first team and trainers,” added Ian.
“There are so many players from different countries, that I try and cater to everyone’s tastes.
“Stilian Petrov, from Bulgaria, likes fish. Pasta dishes are very popular, and O’Neill eats cottage pie.”
Fitness manager Jim Henry eats with his players and said: “I chose to switch to organic food for Aston Villa because I’ve read studies showing that organic food has higher levels of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
“Our policy is to avoid supplements being pushed on football teams by sports companies which could have been contaminated. The best way to get vitamins and minerals is by better eating rather then supplementation.”
For more information on using organic produce like the Villa team, check out www.soilassociation.org/organicfortnight.
