In his celebrated “A Dictionary of the English Language,” published in 1755, Dr. Samuel Johnson famously defined oats as: “grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.” One can argue that this not only reflected his low opinion of the Scots but that of oats as well as a lovely new cookbook (bakebook?) makes oats the central feature of its 43 recipes. And these recipes are meant “to fuel your adventures and empower your athletic potential.”
This enthusiasm for the humble grain’s manifold virtues demonstrated in “Oat to Joy” comes not from a nutritionist or Michelin-starred chef but rather endurance athlete Emma Pooley. In her career as a professional cyclist (with her specialties being as a climber and a time triallist), Pooley amassed an impressive palmarès in races through 2006-16. These included a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the UCI World Championship in the time trial in 2010, victories at seven stage races and nine One Day races, plus four UK national titles, including both road and time trial in 2010. After retiring from cycling, she went on to win the ITU World Duathlon Championships four times, plus numerous titles in the triathlon and trail running world (not to mention the Lausanne Marathon in 2013!). Having obtaining a doctorate in geotechnical engineering in Switzerland, she presently resides near Zurich.
“Oat to Joy” comes about through her experiences as an athlete seeking on-the-go foodstuffs that would fuel her endurance but also be tasty, nutritious, and capable of being made simply and with natural ingredients. The recipes in the book all use oats as the basic ingredient, usually coupled with yogurt, spices and fruit of some kind. Everything appears to be suitable for vegetarians, with vegan alternatives suggested, and all are baked in a 160°C/320°F oven. Equipment required is absolutely minimal and the reader/baker has the option to prepare the recipes in muffin pans or cake tins. Muffin-sized items (or “poffins” for porridge and muffins) can easily be wrapped up for a jersey pocket and consumed underway on a ride.
The author notes: “All the recipes are based on that humble but mighty grain: the oat. Oats prove that good nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. They’re high in micronutrients, protein, dietary fibre and complex carbohydrates. Oats are the breakfast of champions and also—I believe—the lunch and dessert and snack-on-the-go of champions.”
The oat recipes are divided into three sections: Savoury; Naturally Sweet; and Sweeter, with the last being “for the times when you need energy and you need it fast!” The recipes are nicely set out, with each double page spread showing the finished product in an enticing photo on the right, with the “how to” write-up on the left. Each indicates the skill level, yields and equipment needed, with two columns below: one for ingredients (which are not overwhelming in number) and the other for preparation.
Here at the Pez Test Kitchen we put on our chef’s toque and tried out two of the recipes: one from the Savoury section (“Spinach and Feta Poffins”) and one Naturally Sweet(“Apple, Cinnamon and Raisin Poffins”) and while both were indicated as “medium” under the skill level they were actually pretty straightforward. It appears that for most recipes one is looking at under ten minutes of preparation time and 35-40 minutes of baking time. The author suggests using up the results within three days although our own experience with oats suggests that they probably freeze well enough too.
But, wait, there’s more! The first 102 pages of the book are devoted to the oat recipes and it will take one quite a while to get through all of those, even if you will want to consume some just as bread or cookies rather than cycling supplies. But the remainder of the book is what the author describes as “somewhat of an oatobiography” (ouch!) as she chronicles her sporting life in some very entertaining stories, from her start as a neophyte rider who took up cycling at 20 when dealing with a running injury to winning the Rainbow Jersey in Australia eight years later. Food does feature in each of the chapters in some way but there is a lot of interesting material here. Watching a pro race one is not really aware of what is happening inside of the peloton and her description of the sensations a rider goes through are detailed and plausible, if a bit frightening.
As one of the instigators of “Le Tour Entier,” the ASO-managed event in 2014 on the Champs-Elysées for pro women racers that took place before the arrival of the men in that year’s Tour de France, she has strong views on women in sports. While that event began what has now, through sponsorship by Zwift, become much more of a real Women’s Tour de France, there is clearly much more that can be done, particularly in terms of broadcasting for improved visibility. But it is not an easy road ahead for many reasons. One of her first wins at the UCI level was Stage 3 of the Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen in 2007 and we have recently learned that this classic stage race, first run in 1986, has been cancelled as of 2025 due to loss of sponsorship.
So what do we have here in “Oat to Joy”? You can come for the recipes, which are fun to make and pretty tasty, but there is also some great unvarnished insight into the life of a pro endurance athlete. Emma Pooley writes that the stories were only supposed to add some colour to the recipes “but things got out of hand and now it seems I’ve written a hefty two-tier cake of a book with all sorts of weird flavours. It’s more than I wanted, and more than anyone asked for.”
Maybe so but the reader will certainly enjoy what is here a cake of lived experience, including perhaps the odd burnt raisin. “Oat to Joy” is beautifully produced and something unusual and rewarding in our experience of cycling and cooking literature.
“Oat to Joy” by Emma Pooley
246 pp., illustrated, hardbound
YouCaxton Publications, UK
ISBN 978-1-915972-45-3
Price: 24.99 GBP/35 Euros/CHF 35
- For more information and to order: www.emmapooley.net/oat-of-this-world.
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