Scotland’s Women’s National Football Team swapped football boots for aprons when they attended a workshop on cooking and nutrition at the Edinburgh College campus on Granton Waterfront ahead of their appearance at UEFA Women’s Euro 2017.
The workshop, held at the college’s Apprentice Restaurant in Granton, was delivered in partnership with nutritionists from the SportScotland, Institute of Sport and involved the team donning aprons and being taught cooking techniques by college food lecturers.
Food Lecturer Boyd Stewart said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the team to the college for the workshop and to meet the players. We aim to build our partnerships with local teams as well as the national football team to share our work and the value of cooking and eating well in sport.”
During the session the team, who will soon be flying to the Netherlands for the football competition, prepared and cooked a healthy three course meal and learned skills including how to prepare and use a whole chicken, how to chop and prepare vegetables and how to make healthy choices when cooking for themselves and others.
Nutritionists were on hand to provide nutritional information on the food being cooked and gave advice on portion sizes in relation to activity levels and the fat content of ingredients.
Lindsay Macnaughton, Performance Nutritionist from SportScotland Institute of Sport said: “It is important players make sure they’re properly fuelled so they can perform at their best. During tournaments eating well before and after games is key to ensuring the body recovers. The team have learned about preparing food, portion sizes, meal ideas, and adapting meals depending on their training demand.”
The workshop ended with the squad, which includes three former Edinburgh College students, sitting down to enjoy the three course meal.
Team Captain, Gemma Fay said: “I’d like to thank Boyd, John and Bart for a fantastic session. The team have really enjoyed learning how to cook the food and about its nutritional value. It is a great activity for us to do, working together to produce something worthy of even the fanciest of menus. Thank you to everyone at Edinburgh College for the opportunity.”
The team’s opening EURO 2017 match against England kicks off on Wednesday 19 July.
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