What are they eating at Christmas? | UK News

Many of us have been waiting all year to tuck into our favourite festive treats.

Christmas dinner can look very different for each household – but for professional footballers, it is still a time to stay focused on fitness and recovery for matches.

Private chef Tommy Cole whips up meals for Premier League players from major clubs – including Fulham, Chelsea and Brighton – all year round.

When it comes to the main Christmas meal, he takes a traditional approach, but makes it “a little boujee-r” and healthier.

“With roast potatoes, for example, it’s just being careful not to roast them in a crazy amount of fat, whilst still trying to make them nice and crispy,” he tells Newsbeat.

“Also things like your fillings, again, just being careful with the amount of fat that you’re cooking them in.”

He also tries to stick to slightly leaner cuts of meat.

“Turkey’s very popular at Christmas so we would use the breast and not quite so much of the dark meat, which tends to be a bit fattier, and then just try and get plenty of veggies,” the 33-year-old explains.

Tommy works with nutritionists at the footballers’ clubs to make sure they get the most out of their meals.

“We communicate with the players themselves and get their likes, dislikes,” he says.

“Then we basically build a menu around that information and try and feed them some really tasty food.”

The Christmas period is a particularly busy time for some of his football clients, so he’s got to ensure they’re getting the fuel they need to stay at the top of their game.

“The guys that are playing games, especially around Christmas, we’ll see the fixtures are a bit more frequent,” he says.

December is notoriously busy for major clubs, with additional Premier League matches, extra European fixtures and cup competitions like the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

Clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal are going to be playing more than 15 matches in December and January.

The relentless football fixtures have been long spoken about by players and managers, who have complained about injuries and the short turnaround between matches.

Due to the increased schedule, Tommy says they will need to be eating more carbohydrates to keep up their energy.

“So more potatoes, pasta, that sort of thing. We’re just increasing those in their meals,” he says.

He will also try to get plenty of vegetables in to their diets for added nutrients, and for those who aren’t the biggest fan, he has some tricks to sneak them in.

“We might make some kind of sauces with vegetables,” he says. “So quite a popular and tasty one is making a katsu sauce.

“I make the base of the sauce with carrots, onions, garlic, that sort of thing.”

When it comes to helping players’ recovery, oily fish, nuts and seeds are top of the menu.

Tommy’s cooking videos have racked up millions of views on TikTok, fuelled by a mix of curiosity and fascination into the diets of professional players.

The mystery behind who is he catering for also draws people in – but he tells Newsbeat he is keeping that secret to himself.

He is part of a growing industry dedicated to cooking high-end dinners for the rich and famous.

But Tommy admits he didn’t initially plan to get into the culinary world.

“It never was a real big sort of dream or aspiration to be a chef,” he says.

“I got into it because I went on a ski season, I just wanted to have a good time and then ended up cooking through that.”

After catching the cooking bug, he trained as a chef.

Through his work at luxury chalets and hotels, he cooked for several celebrities and Premier League players, and one thing led to another.

But over his eight years as a chef, Tommy has had some strange requests.

“I have had people request just frankfurters,” he says. “Which is the most average thing.

“Obviously you give the players what they want, but it’s nice to do slightly fancier stuff.”

Matches being played on Boxing Day is a long-standing tradition in English football, but this year only one will be played in the Premier League.

For Boxing Day, Tommy leans into tradition: “It’s just going to be bubble and squeak, lots of veggies in there, that good stuff.”

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