Food has played a starring role in the lives of so many famous or infamous people. Diplomatic agreements have been negotiated over elaborate feasts, novels have been fueled by strong coffee, and marriages have ended over a meal gone bad.

In What the Great Ate, brothers Matthew and Mark Jacob have cooked up a bountiful sampling of the peculiar culinary likes, dislikes, habits, and attitudes of famous — and often notorious — figures throughout history.

In this photo from the 1920s, First Lady Grace Coolidge samples a cookie that was made by a Girl Scout troop in New York State.  President Calvin Coolidge made derisive comments about his wife's kitchen skills.

Rube Waddell was one of baseball's outstanding pitchers during the early 1900s.  But he had a habit that greatly aggravated his catcher and roommate — eating animal crackers in bed.  The team's owner got Waddell to sign a contract in which the pitcher agreed to cease this annoying habit.

Buy the Book!

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

  • "... a smorgasbord of amusing tidbits on the favorite foods of prominent artists, scientists, sports stars and, yes, politicos."
  • The Washington Post
  • "... many fascinating facts" CBS News' Health Blog
  • An "amusing grab-bag of food-related anecdotes"
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • "... an impressive catalogue of food-related tales about the world's most famous people." New York Daily News
  • "Brims with fun-filled anecdotes ..." Andrew W. Smith, Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink
  • "This is a fascinating read." Jeff Houck, The Tampa Tribune

  • "... a good helping of the book's pleasure comes from the cognitive dissonance of the 'great' eating, well, the small. Does it trivialize the president to learn that Ronald Reagan was a lover of jelly beans?" The New Yorker
  • "... one of the most enjoyable, enlightening, informative and, frankly, simply fun books." Rick Kogan, Chicago's WGN radio
  • One of "17 Food-Themed Books You'll Want to Eat Up"
  • More magazine
  • The Jacob brothers "must've mucked through skyscraper-size piles of research materials to put together this book."  Philadelphia City Paper
  • Named one of 13 "Books on Foodies' Beach Blankets" for the summer. 
  • Publishers Weekly
  • "This is one book I had a hard time putting down."
  • Food editor, Winston-Salem (NC) Journal
  • "... it was with gusto that I devoured [this] book ..."
  • The Montreal Gazette
  • The book is "one that I'm certain you will enjoy sharing with your friends and family."  Around the Horn, a baseball blog
  • "It's a book to nibble on, not consume all at once, but will provide plenty of curiosities with which you can fascinate friends."
  • Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union
  • "There are enough interesting stories in here to spark many good dinner party conversations."
  • The Calgary Herald
  • "This book has a massive collection of amusing food trivia ..."
  • ifood, a web portal
  • "... on our list of must reads"
  • "Let's Just Talk," WQRT radio in Cincinnati
  • "... a book that's full of fun food facts, trivia and other tidbits ..."
  • The Post-Bulletin (Rochester, MN)
  • "This looks like an interesting book." ExploreMusic.com
  • A "delicious book"
  • Francophilia Gazette
Enter a State of Foodphoria
Foodphoria is the Weblog written by co-author Matthew Jacob. Foodphoria offers Matthew's irreverent, no-nonsense commentary on eating, drinking and dining. Click here to visit the blog.
10 Things You Might Not Know...
... about beer, France and lots of other things. Click here to read samples of the Chicago Tribune's "10 Things You Might Not Know ..." series, which is written by co-author Mark Jacob.
Monday
Jun102013

The Hazards of Being a "Taster"

Thanks to FastCoDesign for posting this infographic reminding us that some of the worst jobs in past centuries have involved cooking and dining. For example, consider what it was like to be the official "taster" of meals for the 16th century emperor of the Indian state of Hindustan.  The infographic points out that if the emperor eats tainted food, the taster can "expect to be hacked to death."

Being a 14th century alewife in England also had its on-the-job perils.  Read more about it here.

Friday
May312013

He Prefers NYC's Omelets

After the indie-rock band Vampire Weekend concluded the tour for its hit album Contra, band member Ezra Koenig decided to move his residence from New York City to Los Angeles. Four months later, Koenig returned to the Big Apple. Perhaps food played a role. "They never make omelets the way they do in New York," Koenig told Rolling Stone magazine this year.

Friday
May102013

Stephen Harper's Seal Meal

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper ate seal for the first time in 2009, and he did it to send a message.  Right after the European Union voted to impose a ban on hunting seals, Harper ate a slaughtered seal’s raw heart to show solidarity with his nation’s aboriginal seal hunters.

Months later, Harper joined his cabinet to eat a lunch featuring the rib meat and liver of a seal. Even before he had digested this meal, the prime minister criticized the EU.  “There is no reason the seal industry should be singled out for discriminatory treatment by Europeans or any other nation, and I've been very outspoken on that,” he said.

Wednesday
Apr102013

Paying Your Taxes in South Carolina

Rice was a widely grown crop in the southern colonies of the U.S., and it was used to make a variety of foods, including rice waffles. But perhaps the oddest use of rice was authorized in 1691 by officials in the colony of South Carolina.

Officials in that colony voted to allow its residents to pay their taxes in rice.

Monday
Mar182013

Cleveland Liked Simple Grub

Grover Cleveland was born on this day in 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey. As his ample frame attested, Cleveland loved to eat. Unfortunately, the kind of comfort food that Cleveland adored was not within the repertoire of the French chef he inherited from outgoing President Chester Arthur.

A frustrated Cleveland wrote a friend: "I must go to dinner, but I wish it was to eat pickled herring, Swiss cheese, and a chop at Louis’ instead of the French stuff I shall find." Awaiting dinner on another night, President Cleveland caught the aromas of corned beef and cabbage coming from the servants’ quarters. Cleveland ordered his valet to take the dinner prepared for him "down to the servants and bring their dinner to me."