Food has played a starring role in the lives of countless famous (and infamous) people.

Matthew & Mark Jacob outline it all in their new book, What the Great Ate.

DID YOU KNOW …

Nikola Tesla, the Serbian American genius who did a lot with electricity and radio, was well-known for his eccentric behavior when it came to dinner. No matter what Tesla was eating, he followed very strict rules:

• The table cloth had to be fresh, with a stack of clean cloth napkins on the table’s left side. The supply of napkins had to be divisible by three (he was obsessed with that), but reports varied on whether he required two dozen napkins or merely 18.
• He would wipe each dish and utensil with a napkin and then drop the napkin to the floor
• His table could not be used by anyone else when he was not there
• Plates and bowls had to be oval
• Nearby diners could NOT wear pearls.
• If a fly landed on the table, he considered it fair cause to have the entire table stripped of its contents and the meal begun anew.

Astronaut John Young smuggled a corn beef sandwich on the Gemeni 3 mission in 1965. He stashed the food in his spacesuit and once in orbit offered the sandwich to fellow astronaut Gus Grissom, who accepted. Ground control freaked and told the astronauts to stow the sandwich before corn beef debris clogged all of the ship’s expensive instruments. Later, a NASA official appeared before congress and promised to “prevent the recurrence of corned beef sandwiches on future flights.”

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il always asked for extra portions of toro, his favorite type of sushi. According to his former personal chef, although Kim only knew a few words of English he would always inexplicably utter the words “one more” to inform his chef he was ready for more toro.

Alexander the Great introduced the peach to Europe. Following his conquest of Persia in 334 BCE, the leader sent a few peach pits back to Greece. Alexander called them “Persian Apples.” Roman general Lucullus did similar wonders for the cherry (and apricot), conquering lands throughout the Armenian peninsula and sending back cherry seeds, which soon spread far and wide across western Europe. It wasn’t the region’s first cherry, but it was a highly superior (and sought after) variety.

Gary Cooper was known to consume an entire can of sauerkraut each morning to keep his digestive tract regular.

Italian premier Benito Mussolini believed meals should not take more than three minutes and that no one should devote more than 10 minutes a day to eating. Not surprisingly, his hurry-up style of eating saddled him with severe stomach problems. Mussolini drank three liters of milk on a typical day.

Female co-stars often complained about Clark Gable’s breath. The food he was most passionate about was raw onions, which he would eat with or without bread.

Elvis Presley hated seafood. The smell disgusted him. He would ask his wife, Priscilla, not to eat fish when he was around. Presley’s hatred of seafood would culminate later in the so-called “Cathfish Incident” in Norfolk, Virginia in 1975.