When you were growing up in Lancashire, what was your relationship with food?
Dysfunctional! Mum and dad didn’t cook. They were both schoolteachers, both workaholics. It was Smash – “Want mash get Smash” – add boiling water to get potato. I went away to school, didn’t eat vegetables, loved Pot Noodles, gorged myself on Nutella on toast. At uni, I just about learnt how to cook a bolognese. Rugby was amateur back then, so I worked in the City, drank too much, may occasionally have had a cigarette for breakfast! I ate to live. I’m six foot five and weigh 90 kilos. I can eat burger, chips, ice cream till my heart’s content. So, really dysfunctional. Then professional sport came along.
You were nearly 25 when rugby union turned pro. How did that change things?
I remember going on a Lions tour in 1997 and understanding for the first time the importance of fuel – fuel for training, not just for matchday. My dad played rugby for England in the 60s, and it was all meat. Their pre-match meal was steak! Then when I first started it was pasta, pasta, pasta. You got to run all day. But actually, a rugby match works on a 1:2 ratio, because of all the stoppages. For every minute of play, there are two minutes when you’re standing still. So, it’s much more explosive. As pros, we shifted from just eating loads of pasta to eating protein to build muscle. To maintain muscle mass, you need something like 2.2g of protein per kilogram you weigh. So, if I weighed 100kg, you need to take on 220g of protein. If an average chicken breast is 30g of protein, that’s seven chicken breasts a day. I remember going to visit Jonny Wilkinson at his house. I opened up his fridge, and it was just chicken. Just thousands of chicken breasts.
When you were away with England, how important was it that you ate together as a team?
Wednesday night, wherever we were in the world, we’d go for a meal out. You sit, you break bread, you tell stories, you understand a little bit more about the human being rather than the athlete. You build those relationships off the field that are crucial on the field. It can be a pretty daunting thing playing in big World Cup matches, Lions tests. No matter how scary some of those guys might look, there’s anxiety there. You’re aware that the next day is going to hurt – rugby really does hurt – and it’s lovely to be amongst people, rather than trying to deal with it on your own.
Now you’ve retired, what does your diet look like?
When I was playing, of the 21 meals a week, I’d try to eat 18 decent meals, but I might have a Monday breakfast, a Wednesday dinner and a Friday lunch where I’d just eat whatever I wanted. I’m still close to eating 15, 16 healthy meals a week. I still like to train, and old habits die hard. I’m not counting, I’m not writing down what I eat, but I do sort of know what I’m eating. The pleasure is that I’m fuelling myself. When I train, it clears my head. I never have bad thoughts in the gym. I call myself a dopamine dealer. I’m just ready to train – next thing, next hit, fuelled well, train hard. For my mental health and physical health, I like eating well.
Are you very conscious of where your food comes from and what it contains?
My wife is a vegan coeliac, and I used to be a meat-eating potato muncher – never the twain shall meet! And because of neurodiversity in our family, one of my children is gluten and dairy free. So, I’ve had to shift. I’ve become increasingly aware. My missus, if I occasionally go down to the local cafe on the high street, she goes: “They’re not real sausages. You won’t be eating the sausage.” We’re privileged because good food costs extra. I’m not blind to the fact that we’re fortunate enough to be able to buy really nice food, and I’m lucky to be able to eat it.
So, how did you come to own a Big Green Egg?
A friend of mine was selling them. He brought one around to my house to try it out. I went: “Oh, it’s going to take an hour to heat up and it’ll be a nightmare.” We were cooking in five minutes. It’s amazing how quickly you can get it up and running, and it’s idiot proof. I don’t think that’s an official selling point for Big Green Egg – ‘idiot proof’ – but for us idiots, it really is an added bonus. It’s fantastic to be able to toy around with – every day is a school day. The different accessories that go in allow you to have different levels of heat. I’m slowly learning about moving ingredients around: “Okay, shift that up, and move that down there.” I’ve done my first overnight cook: slow-cooked pork. Putting something on to cook on a Saturday night that you then don’t eat until Sunday – growing up, I’d have thought that was ridiculous.
Do you use it when you’re entertaining?
Yes. I love our outdoor table. Summer, sit down on a Sunday afternoon, garden, Big Green Egg – that’s the routine. Feeding other people is something that I’ve missed out on in life. I now find myself doing it once, twice, three times a month for mates.
Are there any particularly impressive meals you’ve cooked on your EGG?
One of the professional Big Green Egg chefs came one day and prepped everything with me in advance. Then my mates came around, and they were like: “Oh my God, Greeners, you’re incredible!” I’ve always believed in delegating responsibility. If there’s something wrong with the plumbing, get a plumber – don’t try and do it yourself. If you want to impress your mates, get a chef round. It’s just so far removed from being that little kid in Blackburn who just wanted to be out kicking a ball, would leg it in for a ham and cheese sandwich, and leg it back out again!
We’re celebrating Big Green Egg’s 50th birthday this year. What’s the most memorable birthday party you’ve had?
So, I had an epic 40th. The theme was ‘neon’. Marquee, DJ, load of old mates. I’d met a guy who did meatballs at a festival, V Fest. Meatballs guy came around with his little truck. It was just great. Loads of pals around. I remember little Campo – he’s only about five foot four – nude, sitting at a children’s piano at 4 o’clock in the morning. I’m thinking: “Is Campo sat nude playing one of my kids’ baby pianos? What have I been drinking?”
