The Strange Diets of Famous Historical Figures

Historians don’t know as much as they’d like about the day-to-day eating habits of people throughout history. The big exception is the eating and drinking habits of famous figures throughout history–especially those with more unusual diets. Let’s take a look at some of the weirder diets of famous historical figures… and what alternatives they might have embraced if they were here today. 

Pythagoras Thought We Are Human Beans

You probably used Pythagoras’ famous theorem in geometry. But did you know he had a unique, highly eccentric diet? Pythagoras was a strict vegetarian, subsisting mostly on bread, honey, and vegetables, except for beans. Pythagoras believed that beans and human beings shared a common ancestor, and as such, refused to eat them. He discouraged his followers from eating legumes as well.

What he'd eat today: With his philosophical approach to food, Pythagoras might be a bivalve vegan. Bivalve vegans refrain from eating animal products, except for bivalves like oysters, mussels, and clams, because they believe these creatures have nervous systems so simple, they can't suffer.

Pythagoras believed that beans and human beings shared a common ancestor, and as such, refused to eat them.

Queen Victoria Loved A Colorful Plate

Queen Victoria loved food, and enjoyed variety in her diet–she was one of the earliest people in Britain to have a taste for richly spiced, authentic South Asian curries, for example. But what she loved the most were fresh fruits: from giant apples eaten with a knife and fork to mangoes grown in her personal greenhouses. 

What she'd eat today: Queen Victoria might choose the rainbow plate diet, which encourages a colorful plate of food at every meal, believing it leads to a wider variety of nutrients. 

Doc Holliday Drank Plenty of Whisky … For Health Reasons, Of Course

The notorious dentist-turned-gunfighter John Henry "Doc" Holliday is best known for his role at the infamous shootout at the O.K. Corral, which was immortalized in the film Tombstone, but he was also a proponent of the so-called "whisky diet." 

Holliday was born in Georgia, but moved West after being diagnosed with tuberculosis, believing the drier climate would help his health. He supplemented this with huge quantities of whisky for pain relief, which was a popular ‘remedy’ for TB in the 1800s, and which Holliday himself strongly believed in. 

What he'd eat today: Today, tuberculosis patients are encouraged to abstain completely from alcohol, and strictly limit caffeine and sugar, as these have the potential to interfere with the drugs used to treat TB. Thankfully, tuberculosis–while sadly still common in many parts of the world and not completely eradicated in the United States–is now very rare.

Howard Hughes Took "Clean Eating" to a New Level

If you've seen the award-winning film The Aviator, you know that Howard Hughes–the eccentric millionaire and an early pioneer in the worlds of flight and film–was a serious germaphobe. This extended to his eating habits: he had extensive instructions for how his staff was meant to clean, prepare, and serve his food, while avoiding skin-to-food or skin-to-serving-utensil contact. Late in his life, he ate only chocolate bars he unwrapped himself, washed down with glasses of milk.

What he'd eat today: With his desire to know that his meals were uncontaminated by human hands, and suspicion of eating anything handled by others, Hughes might have subscribed to a to a meal replacement service like Huel, which claims to offer all the nutrients a human needs for the day in a single hermetically-sealed packaged. Diet notwithstanding, Hughes might also have benefitted from modern psychiatric care.

Today, Shackleton and his crew might have embraced a low-carb, keto-friendly diet like Virta.

Ernest Shackleton Would Have Used Virta to Boost Endurance

During his famous Antarctic voyages, the explorer Ernest Shackleton and his team ate mostly seal, penguin, and seaweed, taking the keto-style Arctic Indigenous diet to the South Pole. Today, he'd have a much easier time planning a diet to suit the needs of exploration–which are so severe, he called his ship the Endurance. 

What he'd eat today: Today, Shackleton and his crew might have embraced a low-carb, keto-friendly diet like Virta. With its personalized, ketogenic and low-carb diet plans to members, a Virta Health coach would have had no problem figuring out how Shackleton and his crew could achieve satiety while staying metabolically healthy, even in the Antarctic.