It’s hard to emulate an athlete. You can’t spend all day in the gym. The only supermodel you’ll ever get is in your dreams. And you’ll probably never cash paychecks like dudes whose bodies foot the bills.
But now, thanks to a new partnership between New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, TB12 (his peak performance, injury prevention, and wellness program), and Purple Carrot, you can eat like a footballer at the top of his game.
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Purple Carrot, a plant-based meal kit company, recently introduced TB12 Performance Meals, a subscription service that delivers fresh, pre-portioned ingredients with step-by-step recipes for entrees like crispy turnip cakes with tabbouleh, white lentil risotto with roasted vegetables, and ramen with gingered greens and broccolini. The meals are high in protein and contain no gluten, dairy, eggs, seafood, meat, or processed foods; soy and refined sugars are also limited per TB12’s nutritional guidelines.
Above: Ramen with gingered greens and broccolini.
“The team at Purple Carrot is so aligned with the way we think about food as a key component to sustaining peak performance and maximizing overall wellness that it became a very easy decision for us to join forces,” Brady said in a press release. “Eating meals just like the ones we’ll send out to our customers has helped me stay at the top of my game, and it’s really exciting to be able to deliver the recipes and ingredients for people to easily cook these meals at home.”
The cost of a TB12 Performance Meal subscription is $78 per week. That gets you three meals that serve two people each at a price of $13 per plate. Shipments begin on April 3. In addition to their weekly delivery of ingredients, TB12 Performance Meal subscribers will have exclusive access to TB12 content and giveaways of merch and memorabilia.
Above: Crispy turnip cakes with tabbouleh.
“TB12 and Purple Carrot are two organizations that both believe in the power of plant-based eating. We’re incredibly excited to be partnering with Tom and his team to introduce this new line of performance meals that are in line with the TB12 philosophy,” said Purple Carrot founder and CEO Andy Levitt in aforementioned press release. “Tom is one of the greatest athletes of all time, and so it’s a real honor to work together to help people gain a deeper appreciation for how the food choices they make can have a direct effect on their own health and well-being.”
It’s a nice idea that one could attain Brady’s physique on a 100% plant-based diet, but come on. Though Purple Carrot’s website claims that “these recipes are either taken directly from plant-based meals Tom and his family have personally enjoyed, or are inspired by the TB12 nutritional guidelines that structure Tom’s diet,” Brady’s personal chef Allen Campbell told Boston.com last year that the Super Bowl champ’s meals were 80% vegetables and 20% “lean meats”. Did Brady go full herbivore recently? Or does he secretly eat his Purple Carrot-style meals with a chicken breast on the side? We’re betting on the latter. One doesn’t build that kind of muscle on broccolini alone.
