Buzz
Many individuals possess what could be described as a hearty appetite, but as long as they exercise moderation, there's no harm in indulging from time to time. However, the men featured next had no concept of restraint. They succumbed to their desire and indulgence at every opportunity.
10. Diamond Jim Brady
To experience the finest delicacies in life, one needs not only a large stomach but also a large fortune. James Buchanan Brady, the American railroad magnate, fit that bill entirely. After accumulating immense wealth from his rail supply company, Brady became famous for two things: his passion for lavish jewelry (which inspired his nickname) and his insatiable love for food.
Over time, Brady's appetite has achieved near-mythical proportions. Just reviewing his breakfast alone, he consumed pancakes, muffins, grits, bread, eggs, chops, steaks, fried potatoes, and entire pitchers of orange juice. This would soon be followed by a light snack of several dozen clams before lunch. For lunch, Brady would devour more clams along with lobsters, crabs, beef, and pie. Another snack would follow in the afternoon, leading into dinner, which was usually the largest meal of the day: steak, several dozen oysters, a dozen crabs, half a dozen lobsters, soup, and for dessert, a few pounds of bonbons and a tray of pastries.
Books chronicling his eating habits sometimes varied his menu, but never the sheer quantity of his consumption. His appetite may have been exaggerated over time, if only because it seems implausible for any man (or land mammal) to eat such vast amounts of food. Nevertheless, Jim's appetite was undeniably ravenous. As New York restaurateur George Rector remarked, 'He was the best 25 customers I ever had.'
9. Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley is often remembered for his music, but he was also notorious for his gluttonous ways. Anyone familiar with him during the later years of his career knows the toll that years of indulgence in food and drugs had on his body.
Elvis had a deep fondness for indulgent foods, with his top choice being the iconic peanut butter and banana sandwich. What made it even more irresistible was the fact that it was fried in butter for that extra rich flavor (and an added calorie boost). Many eateries serving this treat dubbed it 'the Elvis.'
In Denver, one restaurant took the classic sandwich to a whole new level, creating the 'Fool’s Gold' version. This extravagant creation used a full Italian loaf, packed with peanut butter, jelly, and a pound of crispy bacon, priced at a whopping $50 in the 1970s. On one occasion, Elvis, craving the sandwich, gathered his entourage and flew his private jet from Memphis to Denver, just to satisfy his appetite for 'Fool’s Gold.' The entire adventure reportedly cost around $16,000.
8. Henry VIII
Henry VIII is perhaps the most renowned glutton in history, spending the majority of his time seated at the dining table, only pausing between meals to govern England or marry a new wife. But is this a fact, or merely a myth?
Henry was certainly fond of his food. However, in his younger years, he was very active, regularly partaking in activities like hunting, jousting, dancing, and wrestling, which allowed him to stay fit despite his hearty appetite. Unfortunately, after a jousting accident left him unable to exercise, his health began to deteriorate. Despite his new limitations, his appetite remained as strong as ever, leading him to become the corpulent king that history remembers. It is said that in his later years, his waistline reached an impressive 1.4 meters (4.5 ft).
To his credit, whenever Henry feasted, his entire court dined with him. He became renowned for hosting extravagant banquets that attracted hundreds of guests. These events grew so large that the kitchen at Hampton Court Palace had to be expanded to cover 55 rooms. The palace’s kitchen staff, numbering over 200, worked tirelessly to prepare lavish 14-course meals for the king and his guests.
7. Elagabalus
Elagabalus was considered one of the worst rulers in ancient Rome’s history. His reign lasted just four years, from the ages of 14 to 18. Eventually, the Senate, the Roman people, and even his own Praetorian Guard grew weary of him, leading to his assassination along with his mother. His body was discarded in the Tiber River.
Elagabalus, during his brief reign, immersed himself in the most extravagant indulgences while also finding new ways to provoke the Roman people. He introduced the worship of a Syrian sun god, appointed himself as the high priest, and engaged in numerous perverse sexual activities. His preferences included relationships with both men and women (though he favored men), and he would often dress as a woman to act on his fantasies.
Elagabalus’ lavish banquets epitomized his gluttonous and excessive tastes. During these feasts, he and his guests lounged on silver beds while curly-haired boys fanned them with sweet-smelling perfumes. The menu featured extravagant dishes like peacock tongues, sows' breasts with truffles, dormice baked in poppies, African snails, sea wolves, and live thrushes stuffed inside a cooked pig. Elagabalus also had a particular fondness for brains, with an assortment of brains from various birds—thrushes, peacocks, parakeets, and pheasants—present at every meal.
6. Siderophagus
In the 18th century, Siderophagus, known as 'the Eater of Iron,' wowed crowds with his incredible act. He claimed to have the ability to consume and digest any form of iron. He invited people to bring various iron objects—keys, pokers, bolts, and anything else they could find—to add to his extraordinary display.
Show business ran in the family, with his wife frequently performing alongside him in a similar act. She possessed the unusual talent of drinking highly toxic liquids, with a particular focus on aqua fortis. Like her husband, she encouraged the audience to bring their own concoctions of any strength they desired. Their performances became quite popular, and the couple even offered a special, more affordable version for the poor, where they charged only half the price. In this version, Siderophagus would consume smaller iron objects such as wires and needles, while his wife drank weaker spirits and wine.
It’s difficult to determine how much of their act was genuinely authentic. The couple rarely stayed in the same city for an extended period. However, one thing is certain: his wife definitely didn’t drink aqua fortis (or nitric acid, as it is also known). This powerful, corrosive acid would have been fatal to her. On the other hand, their 'poor version' show, where Siderophagus chewed on wires and his wife essentially just got drunk on stage, seems far more plausible.
5. Francis Battalia
Francis Battalia might have seemed like an ordinary person, except for one very strange craving—stones.
In the late 18th century, Battalia was a peculiar figure who drew attention from both medical professionals and other reputable sources. Many initially doubted his claims, but after attending his show, they were convinced. There, he would swallow entire plates of rocks and gravel, and afterward, he would shake violently so that the audience could hear the stones rustling inside his stomach.
As strange as that may sound, an even more bizarre account comes from a doctor named Bulwer. To verify whether Battalia was truly eating stones, Bulwer spent 24 hours by his side, observing him closely. Besides confirming that Battalia indeed consumed stones, Bulwer also remarked that Battalia’s waste was a sandy substance, similar to dissolved and crumbled stone.
4. M. Dufour
Not much is known about M. Dufour, a Frenchman who was a contemporary of Battalia. Dufour also turned his gluttonous habits into a successful performance, but unlike Battalia, stones were not typically on his menu. His act featured a more diverse and exotic variety of foods.
M. Dufour's most memorable performance took place in 1792 at a special banquet thrown in his honor, where a captivated audience marveled at his extraordinary eating abilities. He began with a dish of asps boiled in oil paired with a salad of prickly plants and thistles. But these were just the appetizers. What followed were servings of bat, owl, rat, mole, and tortoise. For dessert, M. Dufour indulged in a strange concoction of toads mixed with spiders, caterpillars, flies, and crickets.
Typically, this would have marked the end of his performance, but on this occasion, M. Dufour treated his audience to a rare encore. In a truly bizarre turn, he swallowed all the candles from the tables. Some of them were still burning, but Dufour cleverly resolved the situation by quickly washing them down with some brandy.
3. Antoine Langulet
While everyone on this list had voracious appetites, none were as extreme as 19th-century Frenchman Antoine Langulet. His taste for food was so disturbingly repulsive that it eventually led to his commitment to an asylum for the criminally insane.
Langulet openly admitted that he had developed a taste for revolting foods since his childhood. It wasn't a case of lacking access to other food, but rather a genuine enjoyment of these unsavory tastes. His favorite delicacy was rotten meat, taken directly from the decaying carcasses of animals.
As an adult, Langulet kept to the darkness of his home during the daytime. By night, he wandered the streets of Paris in search of his next meal. He scavenged through sewers and gutters, collecting offal and other unsanitary cuts of meat. His connections with Parisian horse knackers allowed him to acquire food in the form of sick horses they had to put down.
Though his behavior was already revolting, Langulet might have avoided imprisonment if he hadn’t started sourcing his meals from an even darker place—cemeteries. He resisted the urge for a long time, but eventually, his cravings led him to dig up graves. Once there, he would devour whatever he could on the spot, particularly intestines, then stuff more of the remains into his pockets to take away.
2. The Great Eater of Kent
With a name like that, one would expect Nicholas Wood to be someone extraordinary.
The 16th-century Englishman carved out a name for himself with his insatiable appetite. His gluttonous feats earned him fame throughout England, where he performed at elite private parties. Some events were even dedicated entirely to him. Renowned poet John Taylor immortalized his feats in a poem titled “The Great Eater of Kent, or Part of the Admirable Teeth and Stomach Exploits of Nicholas Wood.”
At a gathering hosted by Sir Warham St. Ledger at Leeds Castle, Wood supposedly devoured a banquet intended for eight men. At another event with Lord Wotton, he consumed two dozen rabbits. John Taylor first took notice of him after witnessing the Great Eater gorge himself at an inn in Kent. Recognizing an opportunity for profit, Taylor persuaded Wood to take his act to London, where large crowds would surely follow. Wood agreed, but once in London, he grew nervous and pulled back. Having faced humiliation and deception before, he feared further ridicule and ultimately vanished, never to be heard from again.
1. Thomas Eclin
Thomas Eclin never reached the level of fame enjoyed by figures like Dufour or Battalia. During his time, he was considered an imbecile Irishman, though his wit and humor in lowbrow settings made him stand out. He lacked the ambition of his counterparts and was content as long as he had a steady supply of gin and tobacco. To support his habits, he would do almost anything that could draw in an audience, which often meant consuming a variety of unappealing foods.
He was particularly known for eating live animals, especially cats in particular. However, he wouldn’t shy away from other opportunities if they came his way. On one occasion, he even plunged into the freezing Thames, embracing the challenge without hesitation.
+ Erysichthon Of Thessaly
Erysichthon, though a figure of Greek mythology, is remembered for a hunger so boundless it demands attention. His story comes to us through the words of one of Rome's greatest poets, Ovid.
In Ovid's renowned work Metamorphoses, we discover that Erysichthon ruled over Thessaly and had little respect for the gods. One fateful day, he chose to fell a forest that belonged to Ceres, the goddess of agriculture and fertility. Deep within this forest stood a sacred oak tree adorned with woolen strands and flower wreaths—tokens of every prayer Ceres had answered.
Erysichthon ordered his men to cut down the sacred oak, but they refused. In his rage, he seized an axe and did the deed himself. In the process, he killed a dryad, and as she lay dying, she cursed him. In response, Ceres sent Famine to take root within the king. From that moment on, Erysichthon felt an insatiable hunger that could not be quenched, no matter how much he consumed.
Despite his immense wealth, Erysichthon soon found himself trading all his possessions in exchange for food. But as his hunger grew, he had to resort to selling his daughter into slavery. Yet, it was all in vain. The hunger only intensified, and ultimately, Erysichthon perished by his own hand, 'tearing at his limbs and gnawing them with his teeth,' as the wretched man 'fed, little by little, on his own body.'
