Fame Muncher

BOOK REVIEW: What the Great Ate

by Drew Lazor

IF YOU SPEND as much time obsessing about food as I do, you've probably dedicated a fleeting moment or two to wishing public luminaries would drop the act and just start babbling about what they like to eat. Don't care where you're going, LeBron — what kind of tacos do you enjoy? Are you into ginger snaps, BP chief Tony Hayward? And you, Gaga — does all that machinery attached to your face mean you typically opt for easy-to-eat fare, like smoothies and soups?

While there are a few celebs fond of discussing gustatory conquests at length (I see you, Patton Oswalt and Aziz Ansari), the dietary habits of the famous are largely squirreled away from us. Cue sibling scribes Matthew and Mark Jacob and their new book, What the Great Ate: A Curious History of Food & Fame (Three Rivers Press, July 13), a collection of quick-hit food anecdotes about high-profile folks in multiple spheres.

The Jacob brothers — Matthew's a full-blown food writer, while  Mark is adeputy metro editor at the Chicago Tribune who was part of a Pulitzer-winning team — must've mucked through skyscraper-size piles of research materials to put together this book, broken down by category and organized in trim sections perfect for browsing. Like many overtly ambitious dishes, there is some filler (come on, who doesn't know that Paul Newman eats 50 hard-boiled eggs in Cool Hand Luke?), but for the most part Team Jacob's blurbs are largely informative and almost always funny.

The actors section is rife with material — Bette Davis was so obsessed with potatoes that her friends affectionately called her "Spuds"; Dustin Hoffman's acting career was nearly ruined before it started by an exploding fondue pot — but I got the most pleasure out of the sports and American presidents sections, if only because those who take the field and those who take office always seem to carry an affinity for bizarre food-based habits and superstitions.

As far as sports stars go, Baltimore Colts defensive tackle Art Donovan downed two bowls of consommé for breakfast before beating the New York Giants for the 1958 NFL title. Dominant gymnast Nadia Comaneci was force-fed raw garlic by coach Béla Karolyi in the weeks leading to competition. Boston Celtics head coach Red Auerbach forbade his players from eating pancakes on game days, believing they made his boys sluggish.

On to the White House: Calvin Coolidge was a hardcore pickle head who was often caught sneaking the briney snacks in the First Pantry. William Howard Taft downed a 12-ounce steak for breakfast every morning (shocker!). And in the late 1700s, Pennsylvania's yellow fever-stricken surgeon general blamed Thomas Jefferson for his ailment, believing his infection was caused by dining with TJ "in the open air" on the banks of the Schuylkill right here in Philly.

(drew.lazor@citypaper.net)