Marathon swimmers around the world eat a wide variety of foods during their long hours in the water. While English Channel swimmers swear by Maxim, the scope of foods used is also interesting to learn about. What is normal and nutritious for a Japanese swimmer may not be agreeable to a Brazilian swimmer.

But chocolate seems to be one popular food group across borders and cultures. Whether the water is salt or fresh, warm or cold, open water swimmers enjoy the deep, throaty, tasty feel of chocolate before, after and during their swims.

It is the one universal constant among the aquatic foodies.

Bruckner Chase ate Oreo cookies during his sweet-water 20-mile swim across Lake Tahoe, high up in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. “I dipped the Oreos in the [cold] lake water to help them go down. It made the swim so much more enjoyable. They melted in your mouth like Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Nutritionists have their place, but when success [in the open water] is 90% mental, how the food makes you feel is as important as how your body feels about the food. “

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