Ryan Gallagher is the man behind the meals for the defending NBA champions as the Toronto Raptors’ in-house chef, working closely with the team’s medical staff and nutritionist to turn food into fuel for a group of high-performance athletes and the staff around them.
He is also the father of a young daughter and, as it turns out, cooking for her isn’t so different from his day job.
“We do those sort of things here where we slide vegetables in without telling anyone,” Gallagher said during a rare down moment at the Raptors’ practice facility this month, while dicing squash so naturally he can look you in the eye without cutting off a finger.