Delia Smith has been giving Norwich City Football players' wives a cooking masterclass to demonstrate the importance of high carbohydrate meals to their fitness levels. At the start of the season Delia introduced the Fuel Time Plan to power the players to success. Now she has turned to the footballers' wives to get them to try some new recipes. Along with a specially invited chef, the Canaries' joint majority shareholder gathered wives and partners of Nigel Worthington's side to give them some inspiration. First she took the time to give a bit of a history lesson.  | | Chef demonstrating recipes |
"About nine years ago when I first became a director, Norwich City Football Club was not in very good shape on or off the pitch, we just weren't winning any games," she said. It was around that time that Delia read a piece by a sport consultant, wondering why footballers didn't have better diets. Coincidentally, a certain Frenchman also came to English football. "I think it’s something that was introduced to this country, in a serious way, by Arsene Wenger," Delia explained. "Everybody watched Arsenal running around the pitch not looking tired and I think that’s been a great example,” she added. Delia decided she wanted Norwich to take food seriously. Chef Alex Mackay presented a demo to try and showed some of the footballers' wives how they can make carbohydrate-rich foods like potatoes, more interesting. Sarah Schenker, the club's dietician advises the players on what they should eat. "You can't be the fittest player possible without the right diet. You need it to enable you to train properly, get the most out of training sessions and recover in time for a game. There's no time for rest any more as footballers are training all the time," she said. One of the women who came along to get some ideas was Nicola Fleming, wife of the Canaries' club captain Craig. "I think it's been very interesting. It's always nice to get some new ideas for what to do with pasta," she said. Meanwhile Shirley Worthington says she'll be trying out something different for Nigel. "Delia and I were just saying we'd like to try the chicken with salsa. I really believe that once you've seen somebody doing it in the flesh it's so much easier to follow,” she said. Delia thinks the high-carb diet has already had an effect on the players. "It's not about affecting skills in any way, but I think you'll find we don't tire. We do keep our fitness levels going and the energy is still there in the last ten minutes," she said. As fans and players of Middlesbrough will confirm after their trip to Carrow Road in January, she may have a point. | 
