We all know that kids one generation below us invented overeating, obesity, vending machines, video games, corn subsidies, sitting all day, the KFC Double Down, car culture, competitive eating, yellow 5, the non-existence of the outdoors and Paula Deen.
Indiana's "Fat Boy" Chauncey Morlan
But it might surprise some to learn that in a few isolated cases, there is historical precedence of poor dieting. In the Nov. 21 issue of the New Yorker, Lauren Collins offers us one royally corpulent example: Henry VIII.
The profile (“The King’s Meal“) is about quirky and “twee” historian Lucy Worsley‘s scatological and anthropological exploration of the past, but it takes a left turn at Hank’s third chin. That’ll happen when you consume five thousand calories and twenty grams of salt washed down with ten pints of ale each day, as Collins notes.
Perhaps more impressive though in its sheer scope was the menu of George III. Behold, “Their Majesties Dinner.”
Soupe barley
4 chickens roasted
3 pullets minced and broiled
7 3/4 mutton collop pyes
6 perch boiled
2 breasts of lamb a la pluck
2 salmic of ducks
13 loin veal smort
And “that was the first course.” It’s enough, barely enough, to make Kobayashi weep.
On a related note, 60 Minutes had piece this weekend about the food flavoring industry. That there is an oak tree flavor should come as no surprise to anyone who read Fast Food Nation, but it’s a decent watch nonetheless. Be sure to catch the report about homeless children living in trucks though too. It’s best watched after you’ve learned about the abundance of fake-flavored foods.
[Image via the not-necessarily-endorsed F---YeahOldTimeFatties]