What Gordon Ramsay Really Eats

After watching countless Gordon Ramsay tirades on Kitchen Nightmares, you might assume that he despises just about everything he puts into his mouth. While the brutally honest reality TV star does have a negative opinion of most of the dishes he tastes in other people's eateries, there are plenty of foods that Ramsay actually raves about. And it's not just fancy meals at five-star restaurants, either. In a lot of ways, the Michelin-starred chef is just like everyone else — one of his favorite guilty pleasures is a popular burger joint, and he absolutely cannot stand a certain overcooked green vegetable. If he's training for a triathlon, or attempting to drop a few pounds, he might adjust his diet a bit — just like us. And depending on how you feel about pineapple on pizza, you might also be able to relate to his opinion on that subject. 

Here's a look at what Gordon Ramsay really eats, and a few of the things he won't. One thing's for sure — whether he loves it or hates it, this notoriously cantankerous chef will always provide a colorful review.

If you envision Ramsay whipping up elaborate meals each morning, think again. For the most part, he sticks to hearty oatmeal, saying that it sets him up for the rest of the day. If plain ol' oatmeal isn't what you'd expect from a chef with Ramsay's know-how, he says that's due to nostalgia. "Everyone thinks I have a glamorous breakfast, like a full English or eggs Benedict. I keep it simple, because it reminds me of my mum. So I keep it simple, porridge, which is oatmeal," he explained during his Reddit AMA. "But growing up in Stratford-Upon-Avon, we kept it very simple, just oatmeal with water, salt, and oatmeal, because my dad said it would 'put hair on your bollocks!'"

These days though, Ramsay does add his chef's touch to the meal. "The night before, put 3-4 bananas in the oven on a pilot light. And the next day, squeeze the bananas into almond milk, bring it to a boil, then add the oatmeal and dried cranberries, and you'll have the most amazing oatmeal for breakfast," he promises.

If he's making eggs, he prefers scrambled, but he doesn't just plop them on a plate. He's still Gordon Ramsay, after all. "[Put the eggs] over a slice of sourdough bread that has been grilled, and then sort of doused with Worcestershire sauce," he explains.

As for the weekend? Just like any family, it's "waffles on Saturday, pancakes on Sunday."

After the simple oatmeal breakfast, does Ramsay ramp things up with a full spread when it comes to lunch and dinner? Hardly. Thanks to the fact that he's constantly sampling dishes while in the kitchen, he rarely sits down to a standard meal. He explained in his Reddit AMA, "Chefs pick. So I don't really sit down and do lunch. I certainly don't sit down and eat dinner... It's very hard for me to enjoy a full meal, because I taste every 2 minutes in the kitchen. I'm not very good at sitting down for 3 hours to enjoy a meal. I'd be lying if I told you 'I sit down 4 nights a week and have a 3 course dinner.' I do nothing of the sort. And also, there's nothing worse than eating dinner at 5:30 and then having to get up and cook for 3 hours. So I like to keep on my toes, and eat small bits. Almost like in Hong Kong — 4 or 5 times a day, small bowls of food."

When it comes to indulging, Ramsay's guilty pleasure foods have us nodding in agreement, saying, "Same, Gordon, same."

He dished about his love for Momofuku Milk Bar treats, saying, "My guilty pleasure with food would have to be cookies and Crack Pie. Working with Christina Tosi over the last 2 years... If it's my birthday, she'll send me a Crack Pie, if I'm staying at the Nomad Hotel in New York, she'll send me a box of cookies. Honestly, I don't give a damn about that Crack Pie having three thousand calories per slice. Just getting in there is incredible. I suppose the more stuff I eat like that, I suppose the harder I train. I sort of torture myself, in a way, like, 'Right I've just eaten two cookies, I feel like a fat bastard. I just eaten half a Crack Pie. Tomorrow's training session is going from two hours to four hours.' So I'll eat the calories but I'll make sure I burn them off within 24 hours."

Aside from sweets, Ramsay is all about a west coast favorite. That's right — In-N-Out. "In-N-Out burgers were extraordinary. I was so bad, I sat in the restaurant, had my double cheeseburger then minutes later I drove back round and got the same thing again to take away," he confessed. "...I wish that they were set up in London because if there's one thing I miss flying out of LA, it's an In-N-Out Burger."

At the end of the day, even with all the gourmet ingredients at his disposal, Chef Ramsay just wants a good home-cooked meal. When asked what his last meal on earth would be, he told WedMD, "It would have to be my mum's shepherd's pie — it's the ultimate comfort food — and a hot chocolate fondant with milk ice cream for dessert!"

And while he might be willing to answer that question in some iterations, don't make the mistake of asking what his last meal would be if he was on death row. One Redditor did just that and got this scathing (if not typical Ramsay) response: "That's a really good question, because for the last 10 years I've been asked that about 2,000 f**king times. I'm never gonna answer that question. A) I'm not that bad to be on death row, and, B) If it was my last supper, ask me that question in 40 years' time when I'm 90 years of age, I can't go to the bathroom properly, and I need my a** wiped on a regular basis. So, yeah. Gimme 4 decades' time, and I may be close to answering that question, because I could be nearing my last supper. Until now, f**k off. I'm miles away." Yikes. Lesson learned.

If you were expecting Gordon Ramsay's favorite weird food combo to be Cheetos dipped in Nutella, you would be very wrong. In fact, his pick doesn't seem so odd at all. When asked during his Reddit AMA if there were any really strange food combinations he enjoyed, he explained, "I had an amazing doubled pork chop with rhubarb. Now rhubarb is something we literally eat with desserts, but this dish was incredible. It was in Spain. It was a double pork chop that had been slow-roasted over an open pit fire with rhubarb. Absolutely delicious. This was one of my mates that was trying to show off cooking in his back garden in Spain when we were out filming for Kitchen Nightmares. I didn't think it was going to work, to be honest. And then when I started tasting, I thought 'S**t! This is delicious!'"

Redditors quickly took exception to the chef's questionable response, saying that savory rhubarb dishes were quite common in Canadian, Scandinavian, and Nordic kitchens. One Redditor ultimately came to the conclusion, "He's from England." That solves that?

You didn't really think Gordon Ramsay would eat plane food, did you? Surprising exactly no one, he told Refinery29, "There's no f**king way I eat on planes. I worked for airlines for ten years, so I know where this food's been and where it goes, and how long it took before it got on board." Not exactly a ringing endorsement from someone in the know.

So what does he eat when he travels? Aside from grabbing a table at Plane Food, his restaurant in London's Heathrow Airport, Ramsay says he'll hit an Italian bar for a light snack before flying. "A nice selection of Italian meats, a little glass of red wine, some sliced apples or pears with some Parmesan cheese," he says. "I'm like a pig in s**t." Leave it to Ramsay to make charcuterie and cheese just a little bit vulgar.

If there's anybody that could use a stiff drink after a long day's work, it's Gordon Ramsay. All that screaming and yelling has got to wind a person up. But what's his poison?

If he's grabbing a cold one, it's a Scotch ale from Innis & Gunn, which according to their website is infused with vanilla and toffee flavors thanks to the barrel aging process. Ramsay explained in his Reddit AMA why it's his go-to, saying, "So my favorite beer would be, right now, Innis & Gunn. And that is an amazing beer that is brewed inside a smoked bourbon cask. It's got a really nice, dark rich hoppy flavor that goes brilliantly well with burgers. But, it's almost like a celebratory beer."

As for cocktails, Ramsay served up his favorite libation on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon called "Giddy Up, You Donkey," a nod to one of his well-known Hell's Kitchen insults. The concoction is served at his eponymous Pub & Grill in Atlantic City, and is made up of Patrón Silver tequila, smoked elderflower honey, Strongbow Cider, and lime. One sip and the chef exclaimed, "F**k me, that's delicious!" Of course he did.

If you didn't already have a craving for pasta, you're definitely going to want it after reading what Ramsay whips up for a casual dinner in. During his ever-informative Reddit AMA, he walked us through one of his favorite meals to make at home using pantry staples and even canned(!) tuna. This simple dish turns everyday ingredients into a masterpiece, and honestly, we could all pull this one off. 

Ramsay explained, "... recently we've been using lots of dry spaghetti, with lots of [chopped] garlic, chili, preserved lemons. Once we've roasted off the garlic, the chili, the shallots folded in the spaghetti, olive oil. We've been putting some really nice cans, tuna, over the top of the spaghetti, so it's almost like a sort of quick fish [pasta] dish but [you're] using cans, very good cans, of tuna. with some fresh capers, parsley, and a little bit of preserved lemon. Delicious!" 

Ramsay recently overhauled his lifestyle and lost more than 50 pounds, because, as he told The Daily Mail, "I didn't have a figure. I didn't feel that good. After working my a** off and achieving a lot, I wanted to get in serious shape." Aside from a seriously intense workout schedule, he pinpointed a few areas of this diet that needed adjusting — for one, portion control. Ramsay recommends drinking a couple glasses of water before eating, saying, "It just stops you eating a third more. You feel better but eat less." He does think you should allow yourself a small treat after a hard workout, though. "Give yourself a buzz. Mine would be a dairy milk chocolate," he says. 

And what got cut from his daily eating habits? "No milk. Just because it's sluggish," he says. "Almond milk with Weetabix for breakfast. Smoothie with frozen berries, yogurts. Dropping milk and cheese has made a massive difference." Of course, Ramsay does things his way, and when asked if this new diet was dietitian-approved, he responded, "I haven't got a dietitian, my a**! Do you know what my dietitian is? Standing stark bollock naked on the scales every day. That's my dietitian right there." Okay, then.

Ramsay might be known for his traditionally British beef Wellington, but he has a great appreciation of Indian cuisine, particularly curries. He explained on Reddit that his introduction to the dish happened at a young age. "My parents had a one-bedroom flat here in the Midlands [in England], and my parents' landlord was Indian. And we got to LOVE great curries from an early age... So I was 5, 6 years of age when I started learning about the most amazing curries," he said. "Now to perfect it, I did a trip where I spent 3 months in India, from the North to the South, from the outskirts of Bombay to Kerala, I had an amazing time traveling across India and perfecting what I learned at an early age."

He's also a big fan of Vietnamese and Cambodian food for the balance of flavor and healthiness that the cuisines offer. Ramsay elaborated, saying, "... Because they cook with very little dairy. So everything was tasty, but incredibly healthy at the same time. Great use of spice, broth, pork, a way of eating well but also JUST on the cusp of trying to stay healthy at the same time." It does seem a bit healthier than filet mignon wrapped in buttery crepes and puff pastry, doesn't it? 

Gordon Ramsay is no stranger to controversy, particularly when it comes to veganism. He's sparked anger in the past by stating that he was allergic to vegans, and recently, as Ramsay is wont to do, he waded into some more hot water when responding to a Twitter user who asked him how her vegan lasagna looked. "I'm a member of PETA! People eating tasty animals......" the salty chef answered. PETA basically rolled their eyes at him, tweeting, "Oh, dear, Gordon. We've heard that old line before. While you're spending time mocking the future #vegan we're betting you one day become, most chefs are exploring healthy, animal- & environment-friendly #PlantBased dishes."

Well, it looks like PETA's prediction was right, because a few months after his original post Ramsay tweeted a photo of a his restaurant's vegan eggplant pizza, captioning the image, "Going to give this #vegan thing a try... Yes guys you heard that right."

What, exactly, "this vegan thing" entails is unclear. People reports that his representatives could not provide further details or a timeline of how long he plans to maintain this lifestyle. For all we know, it could have been just the one pizza dinner.

If you had to choose, would you eat a beating cobra heart or an overcooked Brussels sprout? While most of us would quickly choose the latter, Gordon Ramsay would make a beeline for the heart. 

When asked during his Reddit AMA if there were any foods he won't even try, Ramsay responded, "I think, being a chef, the first thing that I set out to do was to make sure that I almost got to taste every ingredient anywhere in the world... So I'm an open book. Whether it's a beating cobra heart from a snake in Cambodia, or a deep-fried tarantula, or a beef Wellington, I'll eat absolutely anything. The only thing I draw the line at is eating overcooked food. There is NOTHING worse than an overcooked Brussels sprout. The smell is disgusting."

And we can't forget about pineapple pizza. It started when the president of Iceland jokingly suggested that the fruit-topped pie should be banned, sparking a heated debate on social media. Of course, Gordon Ramsay had an opinion, and of course it contained his favorite obscenity. "You don't put f**king pineapple on pizza," he declared while ordering pizzas during his hosting gig on the UK's The Nightly Show. He was eventually forced to try a pineapple-laden slice after losing a bet, though he immediately spit it out and deemed it "sweet and salty cardboard." But inquiring minds want to know — was it worse than an overcooked Brussels sprout?