To elevate athletic performance, the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT)has collaborated with Ajinomoto to launch the Ajinomoto Victory Canteen at SAT as the nation’s main sports nutrition centre. Accommodating around 300 athletes daily, it offers 12 special winning meals aligned with three nutritional strategies designed to suit the athletes’ different needs.
The three strategies are Easy Day — light meals to maintain balance; Moderate Day — energy-building meals to prepare for practice or competition; and Hard Day — dishes formulated to restore glycogen in order to restore strength.
Although the nutrition centre was inspired by a Japanese model, it serves Thai-style dishes with performance-driven nutrition. Developed in partnership with renowned chef Nana-Marina Jonglertjesdawong and Victory Project dieticians, every meal is designed to be nutritious and delicious.
SAT governor Gongsak Yodmani revealed that launching the nation’s main sports nutrition centre was a dream come true.
“SAT was impressed with sport nutrition centres in Japan and learned it had them for over 20 years,” he said.
“After Japan established such centres, their athletes have been able to fulfil their potential and make significant progress leading to impressive achievements. However, it was not easy to make Thai athletes understand about nutrition and healthy eating because people assume healthy food is not delicious.”
Ichiro Sakakura, president of Ajinomoto, one of the founders of the winning meal concept, added: “At Ajinomoto Victory Canteen, it is not just about eating. It is about eating with purpose. It is about what you want to achieve — body building, body energising or body regulation. When we say every meal for every victory, we really mean it. The three nutrition strategies can lead to a big victory.”
In competitions, Thai people do not pay attention to nutrition because they focus more on training and practice. Nithinan Phoopanyasak, the SAT’s head of sports science research, explained that athletes need to reach higher energy levels than the average person, so nutrition is essential.
“Athletes need special meals. In addition to three main meals, they may need to eat before, after and during training,” Nithinan said.
“Most athletes are young which means they metabolise food quickly. If they do not replenish their energy beforehand, they will not have the energy to practise or play. If they do not replenish their energy after training, their bodies will not be repaired or recover properly, so they cannot return to training efficiently. If athletes practise for a long period of time, they need to add a meal like energy gel.”
Thailand has many sport scientists and dieticians, so why was it necessary to establish a main sports nutrition centre? Nithinan explained that the Ajinomoto Victory Canteen is not like an ordinary food court.
“It is a nutrition centre where dietitians and sports nutritionists design menus incorporating sports science. In addition, we educate athletes about nutrition, but education by means of lecturing is not enough. Athletes should have real life experiences, so that they can understand what they should consume each day,” he said.
“Athletes can consult with dietitians and sport nutritionists who stay at the food stations in the centre. They can ask how much they should eat on training day. Athletes who need to lose weight can also ask for advice. Since they are on a diet, sometimes athletes may unknowingly reduce their nutrient intake. Actually, they can reduce their proportions, but still maintain the necessary nutrient intake.”
The dishes at Ajinomoto Victory Canteen have descriptions to inform athletes of their nutritional value for calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat and sodium, and possible allergens such as wheat flour, gluten, egg and soy.
Jidapa Srichavana, who is a professional dietician, and chef Nana-Marina work together to develop dishes for athletes. They agree the different preferences of athletes make it difficult to find dishes they all like.
Jidapa praised chef Nana-Marina for creating imperial steamed egg (with gravy), which became one of the most popular dishes among athletes.
“A common problem for athletes is when they feel exhausted, they lose their appetite,” Jidapa said.
“It can be a long-term problem since they do not get enough nutrition. When I heard about the idea of steamed egg, I was initially sceptical about it because it is a dish we all are familiar with, but it received fantastic response.”
Chef Nana-Marina revealed her special ingredients that won over athletes.
“In addition to a whole egg, I added egg white, various kinds of vegetables and minced pork. This dish is called Emperor because it is full of toppings such as salted egg yolk, century egg, minced pork and fragrant red gravy with sesame oil. The red gravy makes it easy to eat. I was extremely happy with the feedback on the first day. I saw athletes eat three cups each that day. The steamed egg quickly ran out and I had to cook more.”
Another popular dish is Power Balls, which was inspired by the Japanese rice ball. Jidapa revealed that Japanese sports teams wanted to create a snack for their athletes that was portable and convenient to consume while travelling, so they brought rice balls with them.
Since Thai athletes are picky and prefer tasty food, they came up with the idea DIY rice ball. There is a counter with many ingredients that athletes can choose to make their own rice ball, such as larb, curry chicken or moo palo (pork belly stew with eggs).
National skateboarder Thawatchai Siang-Ueng, who was at the launch, enjoyed the rice balls a lot and the curry chicken power ball was his favourite. Chef Nana-Marina revealed the power ball is the best solution to solve the issue of different preferences among athletes because this way they can pick the ingredients they like.
“A mother of a female athlete was worried that her daughter did not eat much and had a lot of leftover homecooked food every day. Her daughter really enjoys and finishes many power balls. The mother even asked for the recipe of the power balls. I was glad to hear that,” said Jidapa.
As one of the people who had hoped for years to see a sports nutrition centre in Thailand, Nithinan said the experience at the centre will help Thai athletes to choose the right diet for themselves.
“The centre is still a pilot project, but we hope that athletes will apply the experience from this centre when they have to train or compete abroad. As a sports scientist, I want this project to be sustainable, so we can provide comprehensive support to Thai athletes.”