Surprising Foods Meghan Markle Wasn't Allowed To Eat As A Royal
We already know that the Royals have their favorite foods. Queen Elizabeth reportedly loves chocolate biscuit cake on the road, and an Earl Gray tea and a bowl of Special K with assorted fruits in the morning, per British Heritage. When they were young, Prince William and Prince Harry allegedly had a taste for banana-flavored desserts, including banana flan and banana ice cream, according to Hello Magazine. And Prince Charles is partial to lamb with porcini mushroom risotto, as reported by Express. But did you know that there are certain foods the Royals tend to avoid while inside Buckingham Palace? The Queen has very specific rules when it comes to food, via Business Insider.
Many onlookers have suspected that the culinary rules of the Royals were particularly hard on Meghan Markle when she was first welcomed into the family. As a self-proclaimed foodie, Markle has dished on all her favorite meals in the past and how much she enjoys trying out new foods. However, Markle cannot have some of her favorite ingredients whenever she is at the royal palace, because many of them are either disliked by the Queen or deemed unsafe for the family to consume. That includes garlic, pasta, shellfish, and spicy foods.
The Queen prohibits certain foods she doesn't like, especially garlic
As stated by Express, the Queen has a strong aversion to certain foods, particularly garlic. "The Queen would never have garlic on the menu," former Buckingham Palace chef Darren McGrady told Express. "She hated the smell of it and she hated the taste of it." Onions are in a similar category, as Chef McGrady said that he was never allowed to serve anything with too many onions, per Newsweek.
In addition, Duchess Camilla once said on "MasterChef Australia" that "garlic is a no-no" at royal events, as it can quickly make for an unpleasant experience when engaging in conversation, via US Food. Unfortunately, Meghan Markle loves eating dishes that contain heaps of garlic. One of her most favorite dishes, Filipino chicken adobo, has plenty of it, as told by The Cut. Now that she spends most of her time in Los Angeles, however, Markle can add garlic and onions to her dishes whenever she pleases.
Meghan Markle loves pasta, but the Queen also doesn't eat many high-starch foods
Meghan Markle once confessed on now-deleted Instagram posts that she adores pasta. "When I'm traveling, I won't miss an opportunity to try great pasta," she told Delish. That's true even if it causes her to bloat a little. "I come back from vacation every year with a food baby, and I've named her Comida. I get to the set and I'm like, 'Hey, Comida's here, and she's kicking,'" she joked. To make it a bit healthier, Markle loves creating a sauce out of zucchini, which she makes by slow cooking the vegetable for four to five hours until it turns into mush. With a little bouillon, the zucchini apparently turns into the perfect, creamy sauce.
Whenever Markle is at Buckingham Palace, however, she'll have to wait until she gets home to have her pasta and zucchini sauce. The Queen almost never eats pasta and other starchy foods, such as rice or potatoes, because she tries not to load up on simple carbohydrates, per Hello Magazine. Instead, she opts for leaner meals that include fish or meat and a vegetable.
Royal Family members cannot eat shellfish or raw seafood
While staying at Buckingham Palace or traveling as a representative of the Royal Family, Meghan Markle must never eat shellfish, via Business Insider. The Royals consider shellfish to be a dangerous food, as it is more likely than other meals to cause food poisoning, stomach aches, and the inevitable trip to the bathroom. "It is a very sensible move to abandon having seafood when out and about on public duties," former royal butler Grant Harold once said, according to Woman and Home Magazine. "We don't want a member of the Royal family having a serious reaction to food poisoning, especially if she is on an overseas tour."
However, Queen Elizabeth did reportedly eat seafood once during her reign, according to Cheat Sheet. In 1986, she ate a dish of sea slug with chopsticks while on a trip to China, and claimed that it was "delicious." She later said that it had a mild flavor similar to shrimp, but ultimately, it "tasted not of much."
Whether Markle considers shellfish to be one of her favorite foods is unknown, though the Duchess does love sushi, per Meghan's Mirror. It's safe to say that the Royals don't eat much raw fish either, because it poses similar risks. Still, Hello Magazine notes that the seafood rule has likely been broken on occasion, as Prince William also loves sushi, and Prince Charles occasionally enjoys shellfish.