England’s fast bowler Tom Curran on his last meal

England’s fast bowler Tom Curran on his last meal

Friday, August 16, 2024, 6:13 p.m.
| Updated:

Friday, August 16, 2024, 6:15 p.m.

England international Tom Curran, who currently plays in the Hundred, selects the dishes he would eat on his last supper on earth, from a full breakfast to a gooey chocolate fondant.

I grew up in Zimbabwe from the age of six, so we ate a lot of meat and spent a lot of time barbecuing. It was all pretty simple but delicious food: chicken, vegetables, nice salads and stuff like that. My mum and dad both did a bit of cooking – they can also make a great soup, like a minestrone with all the lovely goodies at the bottom.

That’s continued into adulthood. I’m not exactly a Michelin-starred chef, but I’m a pretty good cook and can do quite a lot of dishes. I still cook a lot of meat and I think my roast is pretty unbeatable. I did an event for the charity Chance to Shine called Chance to Dine, where different people cooked each course of a meal – mine was the roast. I’ve got a few other dishes up my sleeve too – I make decent pastas, a couple of nice salads. The staples, you know, but well cooked. Nothing too fancy.

My favourite thing to eat out though. At the moment I’m playing at the Hundred and we eat out quite a lot as a team. I’m lucky that I don’t have to watch my calories too much so I can just enjoy the food. I still like to eat healthy but I don’t have to worry about it too much. Even when I’m at home I love eating out. Eating out for breakfast is my big thing and I do it whenever I can. I’m also really into coffee – so much so that I have my own coffee brand Naked Ground. I really immersed myself in that world when I was touring in Australia where they take coffee really seriously. It’s not just the difference in quality, I fell in love with the whole culture around it. So I opened my own cafe and we started developing our own products and just grew it from there.

So my last dinner will start with one of my own Naked Ground espressos – if it’s to be my last, I must really enjoy it because it’s brilliant.

Tom Curran next to a pop-up coffee truck selling his Naked Ground coffee
Tom Curran next to a pop-up coffee truck selling his Naked Ground coffee

For starters, I’ll have a full breakfast: a lovely sourdough bread with seeds and mashed avocado flesh, prepared with a little lemon vinegar and with some pomegranate and feta in it. You have to load it up very generously. As a side, you can put halloumi, sausage, bacon, all those goodies. It’s the kind of breakfast they do really well in Sydney, although I’ll bring some Burford Brown eggs to get that lovely dark orange yolk.

After that—and a little more coffee—I’d enjoy a selection of Japanese tapas-style dishes: sea bass ceviche, tuna tartare, the whole lot. I’d have it cooked for me by Chotto Matte, this Japanese-Peruvian restaurant that I first went to for a birthday dinner about six years ago and just loved.

I’ll probably pause here as this is a lot of food, but I’d finish it off with a chocolate fondant, all gooey and warm inside, served with vanilla ice cream. I like to keep desserts simple and I think this is the best you can imagine.

To drink I have a bottle of white wine with the fish and a selection of cocktails for dessert. I’m half asleep by this point anyway, I guess, so I’m hoping whatever comes next won’t happen until I’m already unconscious. You’ve really made me hungry – I’m going to go find something to eat now!

Tom Curran is currently playing at the Hundred. For more information on his coffee brand Naked Ground, visit nakedground.coffee

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