The British staple that's been fuelling England footballers for decades
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Eddie Keogh - The FA/The FA via Getty Images
England has officially touched down in the United States, commencing training ahead of the FIFA Men’s World Cup, with Thomas Tuchel’s 26-player squad hoping their stateside summer will conclude with a Jules Rimet trophy lift at MetLife Stadium.
The team, spearheaded by Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, have already checked into The Belgrove Resort and Spa.
The swanky $100million property, part of Marriott's Autograph Collection in Miami, features three swimming pools, a spa, a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, and various dining options.
Arsenal’s Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, and Eberechi Eze, as well as Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson, are set to touch down at the hotel in the coming days following their subsequent European ventures.
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According to The Sun, a team of FA chefs and nutrition experts has relocated from St George’s Park in Staffordshire to the West Palm Beach location with the team.
Once the tournament commences, there are plans in place to move to the Inn at Meadowbrook in Kansas City.
It’s understood that these handpicked food experts have devised a ton of ‘special menu cycles’, offering freshly cookeddishes and home comforts to keep the athletes in peak condition.
One of these staples is apparently beans on toast, which former Three Lions personal chef and nutritionist, Tim De’Ath, claimed was a ‘much-loved pre-match staple in the camp’.
The 57-year-old recently told The Sun: “Most of the players I worked with loved a helping of beans on wholemeal toast, which was always served three hours before kick-off.
“They’ll stack up on protein before games with midfielders who do lots of running, normally eating more than other players to boost their energy levels.”
Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow, best-selling author and host of Netflix's Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, recently gushed that beans are the world’s ‘number one longevity food’.
“It's the cornerstone of every blue zone diet in the world, and we know that eating just one cup of cooked beans is associated with four extra years of life expectancy,” he stated.
"It's a great source of complex carbohydrates. It's a great source of fibre, most Americans don't get enough fibre, and with a protein-obsessed country, it's a great source of healthy protein."
The British Heart Foundation has stated that baked beans are low in fat and high in both cholesterol-lowering soluble fibreand gut-friendly insoluble fibre.
Moreover, the plant protein is packed with nutrients such as iron, zinc, and B vitamins.
The breakfast staple can sometimes be high in salt and sugar, so it may be worth diversifying and picking up black beans, soybeans, and cannellini beans, too.
De’ath previously revealed to The Mirror in 2022 that captain Kane wasn’t one of the players who opted to eat beans on toast before heading out on the pitch.
Instead, he apparently enjoys indulging in a plate of scrambled eggs with a side of toast.
“But that’s also a light meal packed with protein and makes perfect fuel,” the cook reasoned.
This year, the players will also indulge in ‘the odd’ sweet treat, such as Haribos, and calorific meals, such as pizza, pasta, or rice.
The chef, who is now working with Hamzah Sheeraz, reasoned that food plays a ‘huge part’ in a team’s chances at victory, adding that a ‘football army marches on its stomach’.
“I wouldn’t say life at a World Cup is like a prison camp but you’re locked away and you’re away from the outside world in a bubble. It’s what you make it inside the camp – if the camp’s not right, it will impact how they perform on the pitch.”
De’ath claimed that he and his fellow kitchen staff would also always try to mitigate the risk of food poisoning.
“There will always be someone in the kitchen to monitor and to make sure nothing was being tampered with and hygiene is at a top level. FIFA will come and randomly take food samples during the tournament,” he informed the publication.
"They will take samples of all dishes, bag it and freeze it, and if there was a problem they could take it out and test it. They would just turn up when they wanted to.”
The Three Lions kick off their 2026 World Cup campaign against Croatia at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on 17 June at 9pm BST.
On 23 June, they take on Carlos Queiroz’s Ghana at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, at 9pm BST.
The final Group L game will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, at 10pm on 27 June.
9 - Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
7 - Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
18 - Anthony Gordon (Barcelona)
20 - Noni Madueke (Arsenal)
11 - Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, loan from Manchester United)
22 - Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli)
19 - Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
4 - Declan Rice (Arsenal)
8 - Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
10 - Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
21 - Eberechi Eze (Arsenal)
14 - Jordan Henderson (Brentford)
16 - Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United)
17 - Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
3 - Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City)
5 - John Stones (Manchester City)
2 - Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa)
6 - Marc Guéhi (Manchester City)
15 - Dan Burn (Newcastle United)
24 - Reece James (Chelsea)
12 - Tino Livramento (Newcastle United)
26 - Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen)
25 - Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur)