Anna Pierce talks about food for your body and soul
US middle-distance star Anna Pierce talks to spikesmag.com about her passion for cooking.
“I started cooking for myself at college and it is something that kind of evolved. I worked as a bartender and waitress and I became exposed to different types of food.
I also subscribed to Bon Appetit magazine which helped me learn more about food. I think it is important to know about food and nutrition especially as an athlete.
I believe food maintains not only your body but also your soul.
Cooking is something that I find to be rejuvenating, something to experiment with where you are never quite sure what will happen.
Sometimes it can be pretty bad and sometimes, I’ll end up being a bit of a control freak.
My husband will sometimes make the mistake of trying to help me and it will be “John, get out of my way!”
Something I really like to use when I am cooking is truffles. John made this amazing macaroni and cheese and put this little truffle on and it really knocked the dish out of the park. I think the favourite dish that i've made would probably be this couscous dish with crispy shrimp that I made for John and I when we were first courting.
I love those dishes, but when I’m training I am a great fan of eggs and toast and a bagel for breakfast, you can’t be super-experimental and can’t have something too spicy in the morning when you're training.
There are actually quite a few athletes who are really into their cooking, me and Deena Kastor (the 2004 Olympic marathon bronze medallist) often talk about it on training runs.
One thing I really can't cook though is rice. I can make risotto all day long but just regular boiled rice? I find difficult.
I don’t know whether I poke at it too much but it is a kind of joke at the moment.
Although I am a meat eater, for two and a half years when I was at college I was actually a vegetarian. Now though I have a great appreciation for meat and I love steak, it's something I could eat every other night.
It’s funny after I stopped being vegetarian I actually got a lot better at running. I think to eat meat is a really good thing when you are rebuilding muscle.
After I finish competing, although it is hard to envisage my life post-running life I think I would like to open a restaurant.
I actually stay in contact with the owner of Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan a speciality online shop.”