Football and food

How do you persuade children and young people to forget the junk food and eat healthily?

It's unexpected – but wonderfully logical – to see a football club making efforts to do just that.

Manchester City have started a series of recipes from the chefs at Carrington, the club's training ground. They're being published in the club magazine and online too.

Char-grilled chicken with pasta is a favourite of Gunnar Nielsen, the site tells us.

Baked salmon with a warm Niçoise salad, which is apparently the favourite of City and England number one Joe Hart, plus Shaun Wright Wright Wright-Phillips.

Now obviously this is all centred on 'health food' – it's for athletes, after all – but it isn't tasteless, isn't inaccessible and won't be very expensive. And it just might convince someone to try some real food. Okay, someone's got to cook it, but they're pretty straightforward.

It's nice to see some social awareness like this from the club – and it costs next to nowt to do this sort of thing.

One of these days, I'm actually going to have to try the stadium food. The staples of football fodder usually turn me right off, but the club has had Marco Pierre White in to do a revamp.

Okay, it's still pies and sausages, but the aim is to make it better pies and sausages. I'm going up later this month – perhaps I'll convince myself to give it a whirl.