# Is there one food you could live on? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967 "2010-01-30T00:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/1 "2010-01-30T00:15:31Z")
Is there one food (+ water) that you could eat for the rest of your life and not suffer from malnutrition? We know from Cecil’s column that bread and water won’t do it. Thanks, Rob ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/2 "2010-01-30T00:47:39Z")
Obviously you’d need fluids plus nutrients/bulk, which will not all come in a single food. On the presumption that the question would be, “Is there a food such that water + single foodstuff will be adequate nourishment?” I would suspect not. I’ll report, as merely a UL from which to work on the right answer, that peanuts were once said to be the most nearly perfect food, contaiing almost all nutrients that humans need, though not necessarily in the proportions humans need them in. Someone with a knowledge of nutrition minima and the nutritive value of peanuts and other foodstuffs migth be able to analyze that better than I. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/3 "2010-01-30T00:58:10Z")
Whatever provides the necessary nutrients, yes if I can put Hollandaise sauce on it. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/4 "2010-01-30T01:14:49Z")
I want to bake it, make alcohol out of it, and it should be filling. I suppose grain is the best choice. I’m sure it won’t keep me alive. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/5 "2010-01-30T01:27:54Z")
Smoothies made out of fruit, vegetables and milk might do that. But that probably isn’t one food. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/6 "2010-01-30T01:30:02Z")
Lots of people live on pretty much nothing but rice and beans. That’s two foods, though. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/7 "2010-01-30T01:41:17Z")
I guess pizza is really not the answer you’re looking for… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/8 "2010-01-30T01:45:19Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > I guess pizza is really not the answer you’re looking for… Maybe with Hollandaise sauce on it…🙂 I had a history prof in college who claimed to feed his family on a Roman Empire diet of bread and lentils. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/9 "2010-01-30T02:22:27Z")
Iams dry dog food. ---
**Author:** ![twhitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@twhitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twhitt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/10 "2010-01-30T02:47:50Z")
Purina Monkey Chow? That should do it. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/11 "2010-01-30T02:50:01Z")
> [@twhitt](#): > > Purina Monkey Chow? That should do it. [This guy](http://www.angryman.ca/monkey.html) did it. As for dog food, I wouldn’t recommend it. That stuff often uses ground bonemeal as a bulking agent. Perfectly fine for dogs, but it will tear up your delicate intestines. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/12 "2010-01-30T04:02:33Z")
Meat has all the nutrition necessary for human life. Some fat in it is necessary (if you eat fatless rabbits you die right quick), and if you were allowed the whole animal -muscle meat, fat, skin, liver, kidneys, bone marrow- you’d be set up for good health, not just survival. So my vote is for a nice fatty beef steak. Unless ‘cow’ is an acceptable answer (and you could eat other parts). There are lots of people who eat animals alone with no evidence of ill health. Google ‘zero-carb’. There are also human populations who have reproduced long-term with apparently excellent health on all-animal diets. ---
**Author:** ![Sehmket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Sehmket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sehmket)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/13 "2010-01-30T04:15:02Z")
Would something like K-Rations count? If so, I would go for that. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/14 "2010-01-30T04:20:27Z")
My nutrition teacher in the late 90s told us that people could survive on chicken eggs and oranges. Eggs only lack vitamin C, so that’s why you’d need some oranges too occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/15 "2010-01-30T04:30:48Z")
Beans. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/16 "2010-01-30T04:36:49Z")
Well, most of what we consume today in America is corn. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/17 "2010-01-30T06:21:35Z")
Meat is the correct answer. It contains all the vitamins and minerals you need, and as Rhubarbarin pointed out, there are peoples who exist entirely on it for most of the year, specifically Eskimo populations. I once read (was it in The Straight Dope?) that potatoes will tide you over for a very long time because they contain a small amount of vitamin C. I have no idea if this is correct, though; it sounds doubtful to me. ---
**Author:** ![twhitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@twhitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twhitt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/18 "2010-01-30T06:31:29Z")
A large baked potato with the skin contains 48% of your RDI of Vitamin C. It’s also a fairly complete source of essential protein. It’s short on most other vitamins, and has rather more iron than men would need. Not a terrible choice, really. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/19 "2010-01-30T06:42:34Z")
I think I’m remembering “Tortilla Flat” where a woman and her kids ate nothing but beans and were totally thriving. ---
**Author:** ![vifslan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f4b2a3/32.png) [@vifslan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vifslan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967/20 "2010-01-30T06:52:49Z")
If quinoa had more vitamins and fat, it might be a strong contender. At the very least, it was a sacred food to the Incas until the Spanish started to suppress it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-food-you-could-live-on/526967.md?page=2)