Co-Authors' Blog

A Delicious Idea

2012-02-19T21:53:54Z

If you saw a jar of Nutella — the chocolate-hazelnut spread — on your kitchen table, you might be tempted to reach for it, open it and wipe some on a roll to eat. But one day when André Briend spied a jar of Nutella in his kitchen, something else happened.

The French pediatrician got an idea: develop a sweet, high-calorie, peanut-based spread that is fortified with vitamins and minerals, and then use it to alleviate starvation in Africa. Briend called his spread Plumpy'nut, and it was credited for saving 1.9 million lives.

"Drop the Cupcake, Governor"

2012-02-13T01:48:20Z

On this day in 1999, the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton concluded with a vote by the U.S. Senate that acquitted him of both charges. But there was one thing that Clinton was undisputedly guilty of during his presidency: eating plentiful portions of high-fat foods.

Yet this was a habit he brought from his home state of Arkansas. As governor of the state, Clinton's giant-sized appetite was so well known among the state's press corps that journalists would crack jokes such as: “Is the forklift with the governor’s lunch here yet?"

The governor’s staffers went to surprising lengths to try to curb their boss’ eating. During one meeting, a Clinton staffer literally snatched a cupcake out of the governor’s hand.

Getting Jay to Eat Some Veggies

2012-02-02T03:19:00Z

Jay Leno, host of TV's "The Tonight Show," had once told a magazine that he hadn't eaten vegetables since 1969. But that changed this week when Leno had First Lady Michelle Obama on his show. The first lady has stressed the need for Americans to embrace physical activity and healthy eating

During her appearance on the show, Mrs. Obama convinced the TV icon to snack on an apple and sweet potato fries and then she presented him with a whole wheat-crust pizza. "That does smell very good," Leno said, eyeing the pizza. "I assume this is sausage-pepperoni." But it was not. This pizza was topped with a healthy assortment of veggies: eggplant, green peppers and zucchini. Leno took a bite.

A Passion for Pigs' Feet?

2012-01-21T13:35:00Z

On this day in 1793, King Louis XVI was executed in Paris. The year before, he had been arrested by revolutionaries in the town of Varennes. But a leader of the uprising spread the false tale that the king had been captured in the Sainte-Menehould because Louis wanted to eat pigs' feet, a dish for which this village was renowned. However, the story was believable because of the monarch's gluttonous appetite.

Gilmore's Departing Dinner

2012-01-17T12:05:00Z

On this day in 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was shot by a firing squad in Utah, becoming the first person executed in the U.S. after a Supreme Court ruling that upheld death penalty statutes. Gilmore gained notoriety by insisting that his death sentence be carried out with no delay. The night before he was executed, Gilmore was served his final meal: a steak, potatoes, milk, coffee and a six-pack of beer. He reportedly consumed only the milk and coffee.

Pork Got Punched from Ali's Diet

2012-01-09T15:36:11Z

On this day in 1976, filming of the movie "Rocky" began. Sylvester Stallone was the flick's leading actor, portraying a fictional Philadelphia boxer named Rocky Balboa. Yet the movie was inspired by a real-life boxing match that occurred in 1975 between heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and a virtually unknown fighter by the name of Chuck Wepner.

Do you have an appetite for boxing? Then consider some of the strange things that a few famous boxers ate:

* When Joe Louis was living in Chicago, his trainer would take him to the city's stockyards, where the boxer drank blood fresh from the slaughterhouse.

* Early in his boxing career, Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) converted to Islam. A Muslim mentor recalled that Ali had no problem adjusting to the dietary rules of his new religious. "We used to eat together at the Famous Chef Cafe," said Abdul Rahaman. "And when I first sat down with Cassius, no one had taught him about not eating pork. But it wasn't hard to get him to change."

* Robert De Niro was an actor, not a boxer, but he played a prize-fighter in the highly acclaimed 1980 movie "Raging Bull". De Niro packed on at least 50 pounds in order to portray the boxer Jake LaMotta. To gain the weight, De Niro said he ate "three square meals a day . . . y'know, pancakes, milk, beer."

Clemente's Fried Chicken Episode

2011-12-31T21:33:28Z

On this day in 1972, baseball star Roberto Clemente died after the plane in which he was traveling crashed. Clemente had been destined for Nicaragua, seeking to bring food and other relief supplies to survivors of an earthquake.

Our book includes a strange story involving Clemente and food. In 1969, while in San Diego for a ballgame, the outfielder left a restaurant with a box of takeout fried chicken when a carload of men approached and ordered him into the vehicle at gunpoint. The men drove him to an isolated part of the city, demanded he strip down to his underwear and then took his All-Star ring and wallet.

Clemente pleaded for his life and finally told the men who he was. The bandits then allowed Clemente to leave the car with his clothes and personal items, and then drove away. Moments later, Clemente heard the same car approaching at a high speed and feared that the gunmen might have decided to kill him after all. But they were only returning his box of chicken.

Christmas Vittles

2011-12-23T12:48:01Z

Neither turkey nor ham highlighted the Christmas dinner that Flannery O'Connor ate in December 1956. The acclaimed author and Georgia native wrote to a friend that "for Christmas I demanded and got meatballs and turnip greens."

He Craved Tea and Chocolate

2011-12-19T18:27:10Z

Vaclav Havel, the Czech writer and dissident who rose to become president after communism's fall, died on Sunday at the age of 75. The cause of death appears to have been related to Havel's cigarette-smoking. Yet tobacco wasn't the only habit he indulged.

Writing from his prison cell in 1980, Havel asked his wife, Olga, to send him several items, including a toohbrush and a razor. "But [send] nothing at the expense of cigarettes, tea and chocolate," he implored his wife. Tea and chocolate, he wrote, were among "the whims that give me inner comfort."

Frankly My Dear, It's the Pasta!

2011-12-15T11:12:00Z

On this day in 1939, the blockbuster movie Gone With the Wind premiered at a theater in Atlanta. The film's male star was actor Clark Gable. In the early 1960s, Gable signed a new contract with a studio and then had a medical check-up (required by his new contract). Gable failed the physical, partly because his body weight had soared to 230 pounds.

Gable blamed his weight problem on actress Sophia Loren, whom, he insisted, had encouraged him to eat too much pasta during an extended visit to Italy.