NY Times casts doubts on Diamond Jim Brady’s diet
(From Megamunch email) The New York Times has an article about Gilded Age railroad tycoon “Diamond” Jim Brady’s reported gastronomical feats. A typical dinner for Brady was supposedly “Three dozen oysters (the largest Lynnhavens were saved for him), a dozen crabs, six or seven lobsters, terrapin soup,” and a steak, with a dessert of “a tray full of pastries… and two pounds of bonbons.”
The reporter has difficulty believing that Brady ate like that on an everyday basis and believes that the meals he ate at various times in his life have been fused into a giant daily superfeast. He talks to Dr. Nicholas Belitsos, a Baltimore gastroenterologist who is somewhat less skeptical and claims that a stomach capacity six times greater than average, which Brady reportedly possessed, is a possibility.
The article briefly mentions Brady’s girlfriend, actress Lillian Russell, but does not report that she was about as legendary a trencherperson as Brady was. Oscar Tschirky, creator of the Waldorf salad, served the couple on several occasions and recollected that Russell was the bigger eater of the pair. She reportedly once won a diamond ring from her boyfriend by defeating him in an eating contest after removing her corset.
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