A gula é um pecado muito público. Aqueles de nós que comem demais tendem a ficar um tanto corpulentos e por isso não conseguem esconder que cometemos um dos sete pecados capitais. Durante séculos, na Europa cristã, onde a fome era comum, o clero criticou os glutões. Apesar do ódio sagrado à gula, a história está repleta de pessoas que descobriram que nunca estavam saciadas e não conseguiam saciar a fome.
Aqui estão dez dos comedores mais vorazes que já ameaçaram uma mesa.
Relacionado: As 10 principais maneiras bizarras pelas quais os alimentos foram descobertos
10 Eduardo Dando
Hoje, as ostras são consideradas um alimento da elite, mas em muitos momentos no passado, eram simplesmente uma adição bem-vinda à sua dieta diária. Em meados do século XIX, centenas de milhões de ostras eram consumidas todos os anos só em Londres. Escavações arqueológicas muitas vezes revelam vastas pilhas de conchas de ostras onde quer que multidões de pessoas se reunissem. Os bares de ostras na Londres georgiana podiam fornecer uma dúzia de ostras por alguns centavos. Apesar do preço baixo, havia quem simplesmente não conseguisse pagar o vício deste delicioso marisco.
Edward Dando foi o flagelo dos vendedores de ostras georgianos. Ele foi treinado como chapeleiro, e alguns diriam que ele era tão louco quanto o proverbial chapeleiro por suas façanhas. Alguns também o chamariam de ladrão. Para outros, ele era simplesmente o “célebre comedor de ostras”. Dando era conhecido por entrar em um bar de ostras, comer até 360 ostras de uma só vez e depois revelar que não tinha dinheiro para pagar por elas. O vendedor indignado espancava Dando ou mandava-o para a prisão. Às vezes, ele era libertado da prisão e partia imediatamente para outra festa. Quando levado perante um juiz, ele simplesmente disse: “Eu estava com muita fome, Excelência, depois de viver tanto tempo com uma pensão de prisão, e pensei em me deliciar com uma ostra”.
Não que ostras fossem seu único deleite. Em 1831, ele foi preso depois de “devorar diversas torradas e diversas tigelas de sopa e café, no Sun Coffee-house, Charles-street, Hatton-garden, sem pagar pelas mesmas”. Infelizmente, a tendência de Dando de acabar na prisão custou-lhe a vida quando, em 1832, contraiu cólera na prisão e morreu. [1]
9 Nicolau Madeira
Você sabe que seus hábitos alimentares são extremos quando alguém publica um panfleto sobre eles. No século XVII, foi produzido um com o título “O grande comedor de Kent, ou Parte das admiráveis façanhas de dentes e estômagos de Nicholas Wood, de Harrisom no condado de Kent, Sua maneira excessiva de comer sem boas maneiras, de maneira estranha e maneira verdadeira descrita.”
Pouco se sabe sobre Nicholas Wood, exceto que o autor do panfleto viu e ouviu falar de suas façanhas. Dizem-nos que ele poderia consumir “um quarto de cordeiro gordo, e três vintenas de ovos foram apenas uma colação fácil, e três tortas de pudim bem banhadas… [e] dezoito metros de pudins pretos”. Aparentemente, Wood também não era avesso a comer um pato inteiro cru – incluindo tripas e ossos. Em outra ocasião, ele comeu uma ovelha inteira crua, incluindo a lã e os chifres.
A fama de Wood como comedor uma vez o colocou em apuros. Sir William Sedley certa vez apostou com Wood que ele não conseguiria comer um banquete planejado para 30 pessoas. Wood fez o possível, mas entrou em coma induzido antes de terminar a refeição. Ao acordar, oito horas depois, foi arrastado para fora de casa e colocado num pelourinho para que o público zombasse de sua incapacidade de comer tudo o que estava na mesa. [2]
8 Michel Lotito
Nem todo mundo que tem um apetite forte se restringe a comer coisas que a maioria das pessoas consideraria como alimento. Para Michel Lotito, a capacidade de comer quase tudo transformou-se numa carreira para toda a vida. Conhecido pelo público francês como “Monsieur Mangetout” – “Mister Eat-Everything” – ele entreteve e horrorizou as pessoas durante décadas.
Lotito’s exploits are said to have started when he was nine, and he began to crunch glass fragments from a broken tumbler he was drinking from. Over the course of his life, he is said to have eaten “8 bicycles, 15 supermarket trolleys, seven TV sets, six chandeliers, two beds, a pair of skis, a low-calorie Cessna light aircraft, and a computer.” To be fair, some of his meals lasted a long time. He said it took two years to eat the airplane and that the rubber tires were the most unappealing part.
There have been doubts about some of Lotito’s claimed feasts. Did he really eat three bicycles per year? There is no doubt that he certainly put some odd things in his mouth. [3]
7 Vitellius
Some people’s gluttony becomes so infamous that it is almost the only thing history remembers about them. Aulus Vitellius had a varied career in the first century AD. He was said to have been one of the young lovers of the emperor Tiberius, a friend to the mad emperor Caligula, and an army general in Germany before his troops declared Vitellius himself emperor following the death of Nero. But all anyone talks about today is how fat he was. If a bust or statue of a rotund Roman is dug up, someone, somewhere, will declare that it is the likeness of Vitellius.
However, the sources all agree that Vitellius was given to gluttony. The historian Suetonius tells us that Vitellius was known to steal food from street vendors and even from the altars of the gods to satisfy his hunger. To be able to eat as much as he pleased, Vitellius would take an emetic to vomit up his last meal so he could consume another straight away. On becoming emperor, his brother threw a feast that consisted of “no less than two thousand choice fishes, and seven thousand birds.”
It was one of Vitellius’s own culinary creations that has gone down in legend. He concocted a dish known as the Shield of Minerva. “In this dish, there were tossed up together the livers of char-fish, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, with the tongues of flamingos, and the entrails of lampreys, which had been brought in ships of war as far as from the Carpathian Sea, and the Spanish Straits,” Suetonius tells us. Vitellius was deposed after just a few months and killed by the forces of the rival emperor Vespasian. [4]
6 George IV
King George IV does not have a good reputation in British history. As the heir of George III, the future George IV had to step in as regent while his father suffered bouts of insanity. He had not endeared himself to the public by running up enormous debts while he waited to become the king, up to £650,000 in 1795. These debts had to be paid with funds from Parliament, and people resented having to pay for his lavish lifestyle.
While Prince of Wales, he became very fat from his fondness for food. He was lampooned in the press as the “ Prince of Whales .” A cartoon of the day shows George leaning back in a chair after one of his feasts, picking his teeth with a fork, while his waistcoat struggles valiantly to cover his distended belly and holds on by a single button. When he did become king, George kicked off his reign with a feast that cost £27 million in today’s money. It featured over 7,000 pounds of beef, 7,000 pounds of veal, and 20,000 pounds of mutton. To be fair, George did not eat all this himself.
At one of George’s last recorded meals, he was joined by the Duke of Wellington for breakfast. On the table was an enormous pie stuffed with beef steaks and pigeons. The duke wondered how many others were joining them for the meal, but it was to be just the two of them. The king polished off most of the pie himself. [5]
5 Competitive Eaters
Competitive eating as a sort of sport dates back to the 19th century. The first pie-eating contest took place in Canada in 1878. Competitive eating sees people meet to see who can consume the most food over a set period of time. Everything from garlic to stinging nettles to insects has been eaten competitively over the years.
Perhaps the most famous event sanctioned by the Major League Eating organization is the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest held each year on the 4th of July in New York. The length of time the contest lasts has ranged from just three and a half minutes to twelve minutes. Contestants have to eat as many hot dogs as they can during this time. Penalties are given for sloppy eating, which might drop some of the food, as well as disqualification for “reversal of fortune”—better known as vomiting.
Interestingly, the best competitors have tended not to be obese. They only overeat during contests. Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi, who dominated the sport in the 2000s, was notably svelte. Studies have shown that champions’ stomachs can expand by two to three times the normal limit of non-competitive eaters. [6]
4 William Buckland
William Buckland was not a man who ate a lot at once, but he did like to consume a lot of different and unusual things. He found fame in the 19th century as a geologist and paleontologist. It was Buckland who wrote the first scientific description of a dinosaur. Fossilized dung, known as coprolites, was among his favorite topics, and he even had a table in his home inlaid with slices from them.
His interest in the natural world extended to discovering what animals tasted like. All animals. Buckland was a dedicated zoophage. Over the course of his life, he is known to have consumed mice on toast, puppies, panthers, porpoises, hedgehogs, crocodiles, and ostriches. Not everything he tried was a success. Blue bottle flies were apparently disgusting, and the humble mole was said to be the vilest food he ever tried.
Buckland did not limit his eating to animals. When he was shown a portion of the preserved heart of King Louis XIV, Buckland declared, “I have eaten many strange things, but have never eaten the heart of a king before,” and gobbled it down. Buckland’s son Francis carried on the family tradition by eating kangaroos, exotic birds, and elephant trunks. [7]
3 Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, was one of the greatest musical superstars of the 20th century, but for our purposes, we will be discussing him as one of the greatest eaters of the 20th century. The tales told of his gluttony are legion and have been mythologized. You may see some accounts that say he ate 65,000 calories a day. Better research has reduced this to a more modest 12,000 calories—five times the recommended amount.
Elvis loved the food of the American South. Fried chicken and greasy sides were among his favorites. His most famous meal dates from 1976. That year, he flew a group of friends to enjoy what he considered the best sandwich in the world—the Fool’s Gold Sandwich. This consisted of a loaf of bread, buttered and layered with peanut butter, jelly, and a whole pound of bacon. While it was designed to satisfy eight people, Elvis enjoyed a whole one to himself. [8]
2 Charles Domery
When a Polish soldier serving in the French navy was captured by the British in 1799, one of the most extreme cases of ravenous hunger was discovered. Dr. J. Johnston was called in to care for Domery and wrote up what he observed.
“The eagerness with which he attacks his beef when his stomach is not gorged, resembles the voracity of a hungry wolf, tearing off and swallowing it with canine greediness. When his throat is dry from continued exercise, he lubricates it by stripping the grease off the candles between his teeth, which he generally finishes at three mouthfuls, and wrapping the wick like a ball, string and all, sends it after at a swallow. He can, when no choice is left, make shift to dine on immense quantities of raw potatoes or turnips; but, from choice, would never desire to taste bread or vegetables.”
Ao longo de um dia, Domery foi alimentado com dois quilos de úbere de vaca crua, 4,5 quilos de carne crua e meio quilo de velas. Quando as rações iniciais de Domery na prisão se mostraram insuficientes, ele ficou conhecido por ter comido um gato e 20 ratos. Diz-se que enquanto ainda servia em seu navio, um de seus companheiros de tripulação teve a perna arrancada por um canhão e Domery tentou agarrar o membro decepado para comê-lo. [9]
1 Tarrare
É um facto biológico que algumas pessoas têm mais fome do que outras. Às vezes, o sinal que permite à maioria das pessoas saber que estão satisfeitas não é registrado no cérebro. Essas pessoas têm que viver suas vidas sempre atormentadas por desejos incessantes de comer. A vítima mais famosa disso viveu na França no final do século XVIII e se chamava Tarrare.
Por causa de seu apetite voraz, Tarrare foi expulso de casa por seus pais, que não tinham dinheiro para alimentá-lo. Começou a se apresentar na rua por dinheiro, e seu ato consistia em comer pedras e animais vivos. Tarrare ingressou no exército, mas mesmo recebendo quatro conjuntos de rações, nunca ficou satisfeito. Ele recorreu a comer alimentos que encontrou nas sarjetas.
Tarrare foi hospitalizado por estar cronicamente abaixo do peso, apesar de sua enorme dieta. Enquanto estava lá, ele escapou da enfermaria para satisfazer seus desejos. Ele comeu miudezas descartadas em açougues, bebeu sangue e invadiu o necrotério para tentar comer os cadáveres. Tarrare só foi expulso do hospital quando foi suspeito de comer uma criança de 14 meses. Com a morte de Tarrare, descobriu-se que seu estômago era muito maior que o de uma pessoa normal. [10]
