Trout sushi for breakfast? The surprising diets of Wimbledon stars

Trout sushi washed down with coffee kombucha may not be the stereotypical breakfast of champions, but it’s become the go-to for Wimbledon’s tennis stars.

Athletes are increasingly demanding sustainable options, as well as seeking out gut-friendly foods aligned with a microbiome diet, according to the tournament’s chefs. Recent research has shown a link between gut health, which can be improved through dietary changes, and sporting performance.

“Gut health and probiotic products are very popular. We’re aware of that so we’re absolutely thinking about that,” said Joe Furber, the senior food and drink manager at Wimbledon.

“It’s something we’ve improved on for this year,” added head chef Sam Kent. “If a player walks into our restaurants and wants to focus on their gut health, we have provided them the options there, but also the information telling them that this is what’s got good gut health in it.”

The tournament’s gut-friendly offering includes plant-based, fibre-rich foods such as beans and fermented products such as kombucha. Wimbledon has also joined a growing number of sporting events switching from beef to venison, which is lower in saturated fat and has a smaller carbon footprint. Its meat comes from wild deer culled from London’s royal parks.

“Supporting gut health is important for athletes, especially when training or competing in hot weather,” said Dr Luciana Torquati, who researches sports nutrition at the University of Exeter. “Foods containing live cultures like yoghurt and kefir, probiotic supplements, alongside prebiotic foods and supplements may promote a diverse microbiome and help support digestive and immune health, improve nutrient absorption, reduce gastrointestinal symptoms.

“Together, these factors may help athletes better tolerate demanding conditions and reduce the risk of gastrointestinal symptoms and illness that can negatively affect performance.”

Last year, more than 20 stadiums, including Brentford and Twickenham, started to serve wild venison, while the golfer Rory McIlroy put elk – which is similar to venison – on his Masters champions dinner menu earlier this year.

Head chef Bryn Williams said: “We swapped our beef for venison in a lot of spaces a few years ago. Venison is fundamentally a more sustainable meat, with a lower carbon weighting … There is an abundance of venison in this country.” He said venison was now available across the whole Wimbledon site.

“It eats a wild diet, so it’s naturally eating what’s good for itself, it lives a good life, and so it is nutritionally dense, it has a really high level of protein as well – people are looking for high levels of protein in their red meat, and it’s naturally lean, it’s got a much lower saturated fat content. So you’re talking about something that’s really good for you as a person, and really good for the planet,” he added.

The growing emphasis on sustainability and local sourcing extends to other ingredients, including British chia seeds and quinoa, lemongrass grown in north Wales, and chalk-stream trout from Hampshire – which is “far more sustainable” than salmon, which has now been phased out, said Kent.

The trout is used to make California rolls and nigiri. “Sushi is always popular with the players, it’s number one … across the board,” said Kent. “We can’t make enough of it, they absolutely love it. We have a full-time team of on-site sushi chefs and they are producing from the very early hours of the morning.”

Asked if players eat sushi for breakfast, he added: “Absolutely, sushi is available at all times of the day.”

The kombucha, which is new this year, is brewed from old coffee grounds gathered from the site. “We take the coffee grinds from that each day and we brew that into a fresh kombucha. The coffee grinds are obviously something that are naturally wasted, they have many great uses, such as being used for compost, but also really interestingly, you can brew it into kombucha,” said Kent.

“So you’re giving a second life to that product, but also then producing something that is both pre- and probiotic and much lower in caffeine … It’s a really great breakfast start that also has loads of good gut benefit.”

Strawberries remain a Wimbledon stalwart, with about 2.8 million sold each year. Any excess is used to make jam for the following year, as well as a strawberry sauce for the chicken karahi served in the restaurant.

But for Wimbledon’s tennis stars, the priority remains eating enough to fuel their hours-long matches. “You will see slightly weird things, like someone will have pasta with cake on top,” said Kent.