BY NICK ALLEN
Source: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
Angelina Jolie consumed cockroaches as protein snacks in Cambodia, Elvis Presley never cut up his own food, and Ernest Hemingway once ate a porcupine, according to a new book about the eating habits of the rich and famous.
Other tales about peculiar palates include how Hollywood star Gary Cooper devoured a can of sauerkraut every morning and Bette Davis was nicknamed Spuds because of her love of potatoes.
Matthew Jacob and his brother Mark, the authors of What the Great Ate: A Curious History of Food and Fame, spent two years plowing through records to find epicurean oddities about actors, singers and politicians, throughout history. The book recounts how Napoleon was one of the first people to enjoy banana fritters soaked in rum, while Alexander the Great banned his soldiers from chewing mint leaves in case they became too sexually excited to fight.
"As food obsessed as our culture is, you pick up the typical biography and find very little about the eating habits of a famous person," said Matthew. "We knew they were there and wanted to dig. Famous people can be incredibly pedantic about food."
Among those who were picky about their food was late rock star Kurt Cobain. His favourite dish was macaroni and cheese, but it always had to be made by Kraft.
Matthew said his favourite tale of famous people and their food occurred in 1965, when American astronaut John Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich into space aboard Gemini 3.
Once in orbit, he produced the snack and gave it to fellow astronaut Gus Grissom, to the alarm of technical experts on the ground who feared crumbs would interfere with delicate instruments and cause a catastrophe.
Grissom said "after the flight our superiors at NASA let us know in no uncertain terms that corned beef sandwiches were out for future space missions."
"Many of these stories tell us a lot about what kind of people these were," said Mark Jacob. "There is a story about Paul Newman, the actor, going on a date with Joanne Woodward and he took his salad into the bathroom to wash off the salad dressing -- then he came back and made his own. We all know what happened next."
According to the book, Elvis Presley decreed that all his meals be overcooked. When he said "That's burnt," it was considered a compliment to the chef.
Angelina Jolie had some advice for anyone else thinking of eating cockroaches: "There's this very pointy bit on their stomach you just can't eat. You have to kind of pop that off."
When he was 13, Ernest Hemingway shot a porcupine. His father punished him by making him cook and eat it. Boxer Joe Louis drank blood straight from a slaughterhouse in Chicago to toughen himself up.
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