Oat To Joy by Emma Pooley

Oat To Joy – or to give it its full title, ‘Oat To Joy: Recipes (and somewhat of an oatobiography’ – is a brilliant book. It combines a collection of unique, easy-to-follow recipes with seventeen thoroughly engaging, informative and well-written sections – what the former World cycling and duathlon champion Emma Pooley calls the ‘Snack Chronicles’. These entertaining and informative chapters document sporting experiences and endeavours that shaped Emma’s athletic journey on a personal level.

> Buy now: Oat To Joy for £24.99 from Alpkit

Many former professional cyclists have churned out books, some more successful than others. Oat To Joy stands out from the crowd though – as Emma does when she competes. Every endurance sport enthusiast will enjoy reading about some of the most formative experiences and influential periods of Emma’s sporting journey, as well as getting stuck into baking some of her tasty snacks. Gifted or owned, this book will never be left to gather dust.

Oats, oats and more oats

Emma’s sentiments about mass-produced bars and gels that constitute today’s ‘race food’ resonate with me and, by all accounts, a lot of others. ‘To judge by the fart-filled team car driving back from races, those gels were causing problems for all the other riders too.’

Motivated by this aversion, Emma set about creating her own portable snacks. The first half of Oat To Joy is filled with over 40 recipes that have been years in the making. Tried, tested and refined n+1 times, Emma has done the hard work so that we can have an easy time in the kitchen.

Recipes are categorised ‘Savoury’, ‘Naturally Sweet’ and ‘Sweeter’. Without exception, the primary ingredient – you won’t be surprised to hear – is oats.

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Emma is pretty well travelled and many of the recipes mimic treats from different countries: tarte tatin poffins, lebkuchen, biberli and Vegemite banana bread – Emma’s time in Australia, which she writes about in this book, was pivotal in her cycling career. Further tasty treats include ginger parkin and Christmas fruit mince pies, which show Emma’s love of a classic British snack in her back pocket.

Emma rates the recipes as Easy, Medium and Hard. Not only are the instructions idiot-proof, each recipe is also accompanied by a photograph so you know exactly what you are aiming for. I’ve tried several of the recipes without any disasters, and even the hard recipes aren’t actually that hard – just a little more fiddly and time-consuming. I found scope to adapt things, providing I stuck with the primary wet (usually yoghurt)-to-dry ingredient proportions. My favourites are the carrot cake cookies and the blackberry scones.

Beyond baking

If you’ve no intention of baking any of the recipes, you’ll still feel like your money was well spent when you dive into the Snack Chronicles. The chronologically presented chapters recall some of Emma’s most formative phases and memorable moments in sport, mainly cycling but also taking in running, each with a tasty snack linked to her vivid story telling.

She has a wonderful way of relating her experience if you’re striving to become a better athlete. It doesn’t matter what your present level is, I think you’ll be inspired to be a better version of yourself after reading this. It’s not a life story, but you will still finish it and feel like you know Emma pretty well.

Among other topics, Oat To Joy touches on fear and bravery, training – both physical and psychological, bike geometry and set-up, which is an absolute must-read if you’re a smaller rider (Emma is 1.57m/5ft 2in). The book also takes in women’s racing, doping and fitting sport into your everyday life – if you think you have travelled to get to a races week-in-week-out, think again.

Despite her huge success, Emma remains very grounded, which comes through in the book: ‘Winning bike races is nice, but in the grand scheme of things it’s not all that important.’

She’s also happy to poke fun at the sport’s oddities: ‘This was confusing… Why would anyone care? And why was there a rule about it?… This was just the tip of the sock iceberg.’ There is a tangible sense of perspective, particularly in the section recounting the event that led to Emma retiring from cycle racing.

The entirety of Snack Chronicles is beautifully written. Emma’s humour, determination and commitment shine through. She doesn’t shy away from expressing her sentiments. Her passion for sharing sport and influencing others in a positive way is infectious.

The outstanding content is topped off with high-quality print and images. The hardback cover is a positive for a book that is sure to get a lot of use – and I’d highly recommend investing in it.

> Buy now: Oat To Joy for £24.99 from Alpkit

Verdict

Unique, brilliantly written and more than 40 oat-based recipes to fuel you – plus insights for all sports enthusiasts

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