Once sceptical of athletes adopting vegan diets, Michelin-starred chef Alan Murchison has had a change of heart, and is now encouraging cyclists to try plant-based food to diversify their meals.
Murchison, a world champion duathlete who works as a performance chef for mountain bike squad Specialized Factory Racing, has this month released a new book – ‘The Cycling Chef: Plant-Powered Performance’ – setting out recipes to help people transform their diets.
The decision to write it, he says, came after “a bit of a mind shift change”.
“In 2019, I published my first book with Bloomsbury, and I had a paragraph in there about how there’s no way you could actually be a plant-based athlete at any level,” Murchison tells Cycling Weekly. “But it’s just evolved, it’s changed over time.
“There was quite a lot of misinformation out there. For me, it’s been an educational process, and it’s also been about responding to the athletes that I work with. More and more people are becoming vegan-curious.”
(Image credit: Future)
Last season, the chef prepared nearly 50% of food as plant-based for his riders within Specialized Factory Racing. “We had our most successful year in the history of the sport,” he says, pointing to a trend.
“Ethically and environmentally, it makes sense,” he continues. “It’s really difficult to get really good quality chicken or fish that you’re comfortable giving to athletes when you’re travelling. You go into a supermarket… are you comfortable with where the products come from? I would say nine times out of 10, no.”
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Instead, Murchison suggests using grains, nuts, seeds and pulses – “real food” – over low quality meat or ultra-processed vegan meat substitutes.
“We’re trying to incorporate different protein sources in there,” he says. “If I go into my fridge now, I’ve got tofu, I’ve got tempeh. Those things are pretty much my stock products that I have all the time.”
He also recommends preparing meals with chickpeas, kidney beans, butter beans and lentils, all high in protein and cheaply bought from the supermarket.
“Diversity is key,” Murchison stresses. “If you can get more vegetables, pulses, grains and fibre in your diet, you just have a bit more variety.
“Let’s be honest, you could have chicken, rice and broccoli twice a day, and porridge with banana and honey, and you could have all your macros as an athlete, easily. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to be healthy, robust, and actually have a long-term positive relationship with food.”
Are there vegan pro cyclists?
Veganism is growing worldwide, with representation from inside the peloton, too. Simon Geschke, formerly of Cofidis and now retired, went vegan in 2016, riding nine Tours de France on a plant-based diet. Australian time trial champion Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) has been vegan her whole career, and Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) won an Olympic silver medal while being plant-based.
“It’s super easy,” Henderson previously told Rouleur. “I think riders are scared that it will be really hard, but in my opinion, I’ve been totally fine and it’s been a really good experience.”
Although Murchison is not vegan himself, he chooses to eat plant-based a few days a week. His intention with his new book is not to be “evangelical” about veganism, he stresses, but rather to encourage better and more diverse dietary choices.
“What I’m not expecting is for every single person that sees a green cover on a book to suddenly jump on the bandwagon and go, ‘Fantastic, I’m going full-vegan tomorrow.’ That would be really hard to do,” he says.
“It’s really difficult for me to say, ‘Go plant-based, and you’re going to get 5% [better on the bike].’ I can’t say that because I don’t know that to be true. But what I will say is that diversity in your diet is only going to improve you as a cyclist.
“That overall health is more important than any gains that you’re going to find in a wind tunnel or in a skinsuit. The consistency absolutely comes down to how well you look after yourself, and that comes from food.”
Murchison’s knowledge comes from over a decade’s experience as a sports chef and nutritionist. Before that, he spent 25 years working in “fancy pants” restaurants, where vegan requests were often frowned upon.
“I’m going to get a lot of shit over this,” he laughs of his new book. “I think this is going to be fairly divisive. I could get a little bit of grief with this, which I’m happy for, because I’ve also admitted to changing my mind.”
Murchison’s new cookbook ‘The Cycling Chef: Plant-Powered Performance’ (£22.00, Bloomsbury) contains over 60 recipes and is available to buy now.
