There aren’t many people in the world who aspire to be able to eat bizarre things, but for those who do, they’ve gone through great lengths to make a name for themselves as the world’s strangest or best eaters. From vehicles and other metal objects to animals and other oddities, some of the people on this list were able to ingest things that should not be eaten. Here’s a list of the people who accomplished what many will never attempt to do.
- Leon Samson -A Car
Leon Samson was a Greek strongman who included various eating acts as part of his performance. Over a period of 10 years, he swallowed 22,000 razor blades at different venues around Australia. A few years into him perfecting his craft, an Australian businessman bet Leon $30,000 Australian dollars that he would not be able to eat a four-seater car, but he did, at least most of it. Over a period of four years, he would pick off small enough pieces of metal that he didn’t have to chew. Although he didn’t finish the entire thing, he ate enough to win the bet.
- Tarrare – Anything
When it comes to eating strange things, Tararre, an 18th-century spy, soldier, and rumored cannibal should be on every top 10 list. One of his favorite things to do was shock people by eating his entire weight in food while maintaining his 100-pound weight. Stories of his upbringing claim that he was kicked out of his family home at an early age because they could not afford to feed him. By the age of 13, he was said to eat “a quarter of a bullock”, but he still looked underfed. He then wandered around France stealing and begging for food to feed his large appetite. He later became a performer, eating everything from flint and pocket watches to live eels without having to take a bite.
- Hadji Ali – Nuts and Other Things
Hadji Ali, was an Egyptian magician and performer who had a unique skill that many people had not heard of. Ali was known for having the ability to swallow approximately 40 unshelled hazelnuts and 1 unshelled almond. Once swallowed, he would bring the hazelnuts back up one by one until a member of the audience would ask him to bring up the almond. No matter what order the nuts were swallowed in, he was able to bring up the almond. He was also known for swallowing coins and live goldfish during fish performance which all survived the trip down his esophagus. If that wasn’t enough, Ali could swallow up to 100 glasses of water, only to spit it one in one continuous stream.
- Charles Domery – Cow Parts
Charles Domery had many things in common with Tarrare who is higher up on this list. They both served in the army, they both lived on the same continent, they were both around the same weight, and they both had a penchant for eating strange things. It was believed that he’d eaten 170 cats in a year and approximately five pounds of grass a day when he didn’t have food. To help satiate his hunger, he joined the military for their rations, which was not enough. While serving, Charles was captured by the British Navy where his eating habits were studied while he was in prison. According to the studies, Domery ate 4 pounds of raw cow udders and 5 pounds of beef. Because he was still hungry, he then ate 12 tallow candles in the same night.
- Michel Lotito – Everything
Michel Lotito was a French entertainer who was nicknamed “Monsieur Mangetout” or “Mr. Eat-All”, and rightfully so. His ability to eat the inedible is so significant that it earned him the Guinness World Record for the “Man with the Strangest Diet”. At the age of 9, doctors discovered that Michel was able to ingest two pounds of metal a day. He was diagnosed with a condition called Pica – the psychological disorder to eat substances that are not food. Throughout his career, he has eaten at least 18 bicycles, 15 shopping carts, 6 chandeliers, 2 beds, a coffin, and a dog.
