St James’ Park welcomes a festive favourite from Brussels

WHAT is black and white and green all over? Newcastle United’s St James’ Park - after festive diners munched their way through a record quantity of Brussels sprouts. Throughout November and December the stadium has hosted a series of Christmas lunches, parties and themed event nights for families and partygoers across the North East. And, amid the festive fare served up by Sodexo Prestige’s award-winning chefs, the star signing of the season has been the Brussels sprout. Despite its reputation as the nation’s least favourite vegetable, in less than six weeks guests at the stadium have worked their way through a record 15,000 of the baby brassicas – knocking carrots off the top spot and giving peas some stiff, festive competition. “Generally, diners either love sprouts or loathe them,” said Samantha Doyle, sales and marketing manager for Sodexo Prestige, which manages conferences and events at St James’ Park. “However, this year they’ve experienced a surge in popularity, which has taken us all by surprise. I think people are realising that as long as you don’t boil them for too long, they really are one of the best – and healthiest - winter vegetables.” Along with the sprouts, which Sodexo’s chefs cook until they are only just soft, before tossing in hot butter, diners at St James’ Park have so far enjoyed more than 9,000 chicken breasts and around 6,000 sweet mince pies. They have also pulled an estimated 10,000 Christmas crackers with one joke in particular scoring top marks with Sodexo’s team at the stadium. “We’ve heard hundreds and hundreds of jokes,” said Samantha, “but this is definitely our favourite: What do you call a train full of toffee?  A chew chew train.” Following Christmas, the team at St James’ Park will welcome 2014 with a programme of Sunday lunches and fine dining events along with a number of special price packages for conference delegates. To find out more about conferencing and events at St James’ Park call 0191 201 8525 or e-mail [email protected].