20 Historical Figures Known for Their Strange Eating Habits

Henry VIII wasn’t exactly a fan of light meals. Accounts of his court describe immense feasts consisting of meat, rich sauces, and enormous quantities of food, which reflected the king’s penchant for excess in nearly every aspect of life. By the end of his reign, his diet had become yet another symbol of a monarch who knew no moderation.

It is well known that Elizabeth I was a great lover of food. Sugar was still a luxury item at the time, which made her excessive consumption of it both a pleasure and a sign of prestige, even though it also contributed to the deterioration of her teeth; this is why some historians believe that her mouth is closed in all her portraits. 

Lord Byron’s eating habits were less like a healthy lifestyle and more like a dramatic cautionary tale. Obsessed with staying thin, he was known to spend entire periods of time subsisting exclusively on cookies, sparkling water, pickled potatoes, and, later, that famous vinegar-based weight-loss diet. He was living proof that celebrity fad diets are nothing new.

In his youth, Benjamin Franklin went through a period when he was a vegetarian, which may not be surprising by today’s standards, but was very unusual in the 18th century. In his writings, he claimed that a vegetarian diet promoted “clarity of thought and quickness of mind”—a very characteristic way for Benjamin Franklin to justify adopting a particular diet. 

Kant managed to imbue the simple act of eating with a philosophical dimension, simply by being himself. Accounts of his daily routine describe him enjoying a single, hearty, and leisurely meal around noon, which he placed at the center of his highly structured life. Believing that eating alone was bad for one’s health, he would invite guests over, and lunch would often last several hours. He enjoyed healthy cuisine, had a penchant for cheese, and was known to love condiments, especially mustard. 

George Washington’s favorite breakfast was much simpler, though it was original enough to become legendary. He regularly ate “hoecakes”—cornmeal pancakes—served with butter and honey, along with tea, a staple of his mornings. There are more unusual dishes on this list, but it’s mainly the fact that he made it a daily habit that makes all the difference. 

Casanova’s reputation for eating oysters corresponds, almost comically, to his image. The Smithsonian notes that oysters were apparently an integral part of his diet—believed to enhance his virility—and that later accounts embraced this idea with such enthusiasm that it became an integral part of his identity. 

Hitler’s diet toward the end of his life is often described as vegetarian, although the reality is more complex than a simple label. Toward the end of his life, numerous accounts report that he systematically avoided meat and made a point of this abstinence, using it to project an image of self-control and high moral integrity. This remains one of the most frequently cited ironies regarding his personal habits, given his apparent contempt for human life.

Steve Jobs used to view eating as just another experiment. He is best remembered for his periods of intense fruit-only diets and other highly restrictive eating regimens, during which he consumed only a few foods at a time. Even in Silicon Valley, that takes a certain degree of commitment to eccentricity.

Nikola Tesla’s diet in his later years has been remembered as being almost as eccentric as the man himself. According to some accounts, he adopted a very strict routine centered on foods such as milk, bread, honey, and vegetable juices—all of which were linked to his ideas about efficiency and mental clarity. Some inventors build machines. Tesla seems to have attempted to develop a diet that functions like a machine.

George Bernard Shaw made vegetarianism one of his most famous long-term commitments. Historical records on vegetarianism indicate that he had been a vegetarian for 66 years by the time he turned 90. The fact that he adhered to this lifestyle for decades before it became commonplace made it more of a life choice than simply a diet. 

Gandhi did not merely follow a diet. He constantly conducted experiments on himself through diet, fasting, abstinence, and rigorously controlled choices regarding what he believed the body did or did not need. One particularly memorable chapter discussed his daily consumption of goat’s milk and his rejection of cow’s milk. He even went so far as to bring a goat to the Round Table Conference in London, which sparked a brief resurgence in the popularity of goat dairy products in England.

Pythagoras is remembered for his contributions to mathematics, but he also left behind one of the strangest dietary taboos in history. An ancient tradition closely associated him and his disciples with a ban on eating beans, particularly fava beans, although the reasons cited range from the mystical to the political, including medical hypotheses. If your philosophical movement takes a strangely radical anti-bean stance, people will remember it. 

Andy Warhol once said that he had eaten the same lunch every day for twenty years, and that lunch was Campbell’s soup. This is not a rumor invented after the fact, but a statement by Warhol himself, which the Museum of Modern Art highlights alongside his famous paintings of soup cans. Few artists have managed to transform the monotony of lunch into a brand image and a part of their biography with such effectiveness. 

Marilyn Monroe’s morning routine seems like something straight out of the imagination of an overzealous screenwriter, but it’s actually based on interviews she gave in the 1950s. She recounted that she would heat up some milk, crack raw eggs into it, and then drink the whole thing in one gulp, considering it a convenient, protein-rich way to start the day. 

Howard Hughes had enough eccentric habits to fill several books, and his dietary choices didn’t exactly help matters. He often demanded that his meals be prepared with obsessive precision, such as sorting peas by size. Toward the end of his life, he reportedly spent months isolated in a screening room, subsisting almost exclusively on chicken, chocolate bars, and milk. 

Elvis had several famous culinary obsessions, but the combination of peanut butter, banana, and bacon remains the one that has stood the test of time the best. Add to that the story of the “Fool’s Gold Loaf”—according to which he reportedly flew to Denver to enjoy a massive sandwich made from a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with peanut butter, jam, and a generous helping of bacon—and you have a culinary tale that’s impossible to ignore. Many musicians had strong opinions about food, but Elvis managed to turn his into a legend. 

Napoleon’s eccentricity stemmed not so much from any single unusual dish as from his eating habits as a whole. According to contemporary accounts, he ate quickly, irregularly, and impatiently, demanding that chicken, cutlets, and coffee be served to him as soon as the mood struck him. Judging by these accounts of his habits, he seemed less like a gourmet than a man who hurriedly wolfed down meals between military campaigns. 

It is said that Henry Ford viewed his body as a machine and food as fuel, which made his eating habits more practical than pleasurable. He favored a simple, mostly vegetarian diet and had little patience for heavy meals or anything that seemed excessive. He was known to eat weeds from his garden and nuts he kept in his pocket rather than sit down for a proper meal.

Churchill’s daily habits had a way of seeming both majestic and unreasonable. He was known for eating breakfast in bed, indulging in multi-course lunches, having champagne with dinner, smoking 8 to 10 cigars a day, and drinking without moderation. Many leaders have unusual work habits, but Churchill managed to give the impression that his eating and drinking were part of an ongoing campaign against moderation.