Esteve Ramírez: "We eat too much"

Often the things that mark our lives are determined by chance. In 2019, just a few days before the Vuelta Ciclista a Catalunya, the UAE Team Emirates team was left without a chef. They made contacts and ended up reaching out to Esteve Ramírez (Barcelona, ​​​​1990), who had worked in the kitchens of large restaurants and had training in sports nutrition. It was supposed to be a temporary solution, but today this Catalan chef has ended up in charge of feeding the team during the most important competitions. And this also includes the food for Tadej Pogacar, the winner of three Tours de France in the last five years.

What does the kitchen of your childhood smell like?

— Of fricandó. And of Lenten fritters.

Who cooked?

— Both grandmothers were very good cooks, and when I was seven or eight years old I would sometimes go into the kitchen to help. And I would say to them: "I'm going to be a cook."

Your first memory of professional cooking?

— You Spaniards are all useless.

As?

— This is what the chef at the restaurant in Lyon where I went to do my internship told me. It was my first day.

What had I done wrong?

— I think the piece of meat was not exactly in the right place. That's when I understood the demands of haute cuisine.

What was your first job at the restaurant?

— Peeling artichokes. I did this every day, for hours. Until they were perfect, I didn't move on to the next phase.

How does Tadej Pogacar come into your life?

— By chance. The Volta Catalunya was taking place and the UAE Team Emirates team was left without a cook at the last minute. Pogacar had not yet arrived, it was the following year.

And he won the Tour.

— It was amazing, unexpected. In fact… Well, I guess I can't explain it.

Maybe, maybe. Explain it.

— We hadn't thought about him winning, and we hadn't prepared anything. And the manager called me to ask me to book something for 50 people.

And it was the time of covid.

— And Paris with restrictions… Crazy. I went to a lot of restaurants and we ended up in a pizzeria…

Simple?

— Yes, and it was funny. Living that moment that was historic for us in that neighborhood pizzeria. The following year we prepared ourselves: we had dinner on a boat, on the Seine, looking at the Eiffel Tower... Another movie.

How much pasta do they eat?

— During a competition, they may have rice pudding or pasta with vegetables for a snack. And in the evening, they may eat 150 to 200 grams of pasta. It seems like a lot, but how much do we eat?

How much do we eat?

— Too much due to the lifestyle we lead. We eat too much compared to the exercise we do. On a day of demanding competition, they can burn between 6,000 and 9,000 calories.

And would you say that we eat poorly?

— We eat too many unnatural products that may give us immediate pleasure and fill us up at first, but they do not give us the energy we need.

Let's talk about concrete examples: bread and sausage for breakfast?

— It may be fine on some days. But it is also good, for example, to make eggs with avocado, arugula, tomato and some piece of fruit.

I find it strange that there is no toast.

— It's a change of mindset. We continue to eat like we did many years ago, when people worked twelve hours in factories or in the fields. But if you have to spend eight hours a day sitting down, you don't need that much.

How much exercise is healthy to do per day?

— It's difficult to answer, it depends on age and other factors. I like to talk about moving, having an active life. There are people who do an hour of sport a day and spend eight hours sitting down, it's not ideal.

Now he has a project aimed at people who don't have time to cook.

— Yes, I try to provide simple, healthy recipes that will help reduce the amount of time you have to eat between meals. I am focusing on the business world, but in reality, I think that lack of time is a problem that affects everyone.

What is cooking?

— Caring for others.