Royals
The Royal Family Is Banned From Eating Certain Foods in Public (So Weird!)
The royal family, it would seem to us, more than almost anyone else on the planet, can order whatever they darn well please while out and about. And they can, as long as their request doesn’t involve shellfish…
According to The Sun, foods like prawns and oysters are off the table for royal family members as they carry a higher risk of food poisoning than other delicacies. The family is also advised to steer clear of meat that’s cooked rare, tap water in foreign countries, and overly exotic or spicy dishes.
The list of exclusions are aimed at keeping the royals in tip-top shape — after all, a case of food poisoning could wreak havoc on their busy schedule, their support staff, their country hosts… and Kate Middleton’s always-immaculate hair.
This isn’t the first time we’ve learned details of the royal family’s rather peculiar and specific dietary preferences. After cooking for the royal family for more than 15 years, top chef Darren McGrady has discovered a thing or two — including Queen Elizabeth’s stance on garlic and well, everything food-related. “We can never serve anything with garlic or too many onions,” McGrady, the author of Eating Royally, told Recipes Plus back in 2015. “We also couldn’t serve meat that was rare, as she liked her meat more well done.”
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When it comes to meal time, it seems the monarch of more than six decades has a very hands-on approach. Through a note, the Queen would routinely approve of proposed menus, recipes, and courses and put a line through everything she didn’t want to include. “I found a new dish called ‘Veiled Farmer’s Daughter’ and sent it up as a suggestion to the Queen and she could look at it and decide if was to her liking,” McGrady explained.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
“She sent a note back saying who or what is the ‘Veiled Farmer’s Daughter,'” he said. He also explained that the much-loved royal tends to eat seasonally — meaning peaches in summer and rhubarb in the spring. “You can send strawberries every day to the Queen during summer at Balmoral and she’ll never say a word,” McGrady said. “Try including strawberries on the menu in January and she’ll scrub out the line and say don’t dare send me genetically modified strawberries. She absolutely does eat seasonally.”
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And her preferences don’t stop at how the dish is prepared — the queen also has a precise (and unique) way of eating. “With a banana, she’ll cut off the bottoms and cut the banana lengthwise, and then cut the banana into tiny slices to eat with a fork,” McGrady explained. As for her pears? “She eats her pears like boiled eggs,” he said. “She’ll cut off the top and scoop out the insides with a spoon. “There is no eating like a monkey at Buckingham Palace.”
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This post was written by Candice Mehta-Culjak. It originally appeared on our sister site, Now to Love.
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