# Living and dying on only caviar, champagne, truffles, foie gras **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659 "2017-04-03T14:57:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/21 "2017-04-04T15:06:31Z")
If you can have water as well as champagne that makes it a lot easier to regulate your salt balance. Too salty, too much protein, just drink more water and you can excrete it. Without enough water you’ll die. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/22 "2017-04-04T15:10:09Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > … “Texas Caviar” … Thnx. Never heard of it. " […] Caviar" has been used with any number of dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/23 "2017-04-04T15:11:32Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > I’m a bit skeptical of this, based on ample evidence that a diet based on fresh meat (e.g. Eskimo diet) doesn’t lead to scurvy. Caviar and foie gras is not ‘a diet of fresh meat’ - there is a _tiny_ amount of vitamin C in foie gras, and zero (or as good as zero) in the other items in this list. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > [Cecil Adams](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2374/traditionally-eskimos-ate-only-meat-and-fish-why-didnt-they-get-scurvy)’s column on why Eskimos didn’t get scurvy, despite a diet based almost entirely on meat and fish. The Eskimos may have gotten Vitamin C from the skin of beluga whales, or the organ meat of sea mammals, but there’s none in caviar. The Eskimo diet also included fresh and preserved berries - and it happens to be the case that the available berries (bearberry, blueberry, cranberry, crowberry, and probably some species or other of Rubus) are pretty good sources of Vitamin C. In the short arctic summer, green plants such as chickweed (another good source of Vitamin C) are available, and are documented as being eaten by Eskimos. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/24 "2017-04-04T15:13:43Z")
Besides - whenever you go to the beach, there’s always an orange on the strand line 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/25 "2017-04-04T15:43:44Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > I’m a bit skeptical of this, based on ample evidence that a diet based on fresh meat (e.g. Eskimo diet) doesn’t lead to scurvy. The Inuit actually eat a wide variety of plants including leaves (raw and fermented), leafy greens, roots, and berries as described in Anore Jones’ _Plants that we Eat_: > **[Plants That We Eat: Nauriat Nigiñaqtaut - From the traditional wisdom of the...](https://www.amazon.com/Plants-That-Eat-Nigi%C3%B1aqtaut-traditional/dp/1602230749)** > > Buy Plants That We Eat: Nauriat Nigiñaqtaut - From the traditional wisdom of the Iñupiat Elders of Northwest Alaska on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/26 "2017-04-04T16:36:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m pretty sure that you have to get into strong distilled spirits before you’re dehydrating, on net. Although if most of your calories come heavily salted, you’ll need to drink _a lot_ of champagne. So, even hydrating on net, it’s not as hydrating, so you might trend toward alcohol poisoning. Anyway, the OP has retracted the 2a) champagne requirement. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/27 "2017-04-04T16:40:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > One factor is caviar and water lack carbohydrates. Your body can make a small amount of carbs but you’re going to have problems if you do any exertions. It’ll be like you’re on a strict Atkins diet. > You’ll also get scurvy from the lack of Vitamin C but that will take several weeks to show up. You’ll probably be dead before that becomes an issue. Lack of carbs is NOT a problem. Many people have gone on a strict Atkins with no exertion issues. Maybe running a marathon, sure. I , myself have use Low Carb diets and not had a issue. But I agree- no vitamin C, that will be your undoing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/28 "2017-04-04T16:45:02Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > For 2a) I think you might die of dehydration pretty quickly. Caviar is very salty. Champagne is about 12% alcohol. > > I found a bunch of cites that 4% beer is hydrating, at least in the shortish term. You can drink only beer without obvious hydration problems. But is that true of 12% alcohol? I can’t find any studies, but I am doubtful. My dad used to go fishing with Portuguese fishermen out of Long Beach. They stayed out for a day or two, drank nothing but black coffee and red wine. I had a friend who drank nothing but coffee and beer. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/29 "2017-04-04T17:18:57Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Although if most of your calories come heavily salted, you’ll need to drink _a lot_ of champagne. So, even hydrating on net, it’s not as hydrating, so you might trend toward alcohol poisoning. > > Anyway, the OP has retracted the 2a) champagne requirement. > [@DrDeth](#): > > My dad used to go fishing with Portuguese fishermen out of Long Beach. They stayed out for a day or two, drank nothing but black coffee and red wine. > > I had a friend who drank nothing but coffee and beer. I would tend to agree that you could do okay on champagne (assuming that you didn’t have crazy salt intake, like you might if all you had was caviar). Also, high protein diet adds to burden. Common wisdom is that people in the middle ages lived on beer and wine. Cite below says that that is false, people did drink water, but it still leaves the impression that they might live on alcoholic drinks if they could afford it. > **[The great Medieval water myth](https://leslefts.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-great-medieval-water-myth.html)** > > A food history blog, focusing mainly on early medieval food and French bread history, written by Jim Chevallier (visit chezjim.com for more). . Anyway, alcohol blunts ADH (anti-diuretic hormone/vasopressin) release, which causes an indirect diuresis. But that is essentially just resetting your “thermostat” to a level of less hydration. This is NOT quite like drinking water laced with diuretic (like Lasix), meaning the more you drink, the more dehydrated you become. So maybe you could handle a lot of caviar with champagne only. Anyway, is all caviar salty? I guess if your tormentors only give you salty caviar and you find that to be a problem, you could first wash it in Dom Perignon… ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/30 "2017-04-04T22:28:42Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I would dearly like to know how much caviar you could attempt to swallow before you choke on it … Since caviar is very small, slippery round things, I imagine it would be an ideal food to try and consume in deadly quantities. I think you could swallow it \*\*\*while \*\*\*choking. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/31 "2017-04-05T00:04:50Z")
High protein diet can lead to gout and so on ? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/32 "2017-04-05T00:33:00Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Lack of carbs is NOT a problem. Many people have gone on a strict Atkins with no exertion issues. Maybe running a marathon, sure. I , myself have use Low Carb diets and not had a issue. The whole point of a diet is you lose weight. That can be a good idea if you do it for a limited period of time and then switch to a less restrictive diet. People at some point switch from a zero-carb diet to a low-carb diet. If you’re on a diet that’s causing you to lose weight and you continue on that diet, that’s starvation. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/33 "2017-04-05T01:03:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Besides - whenever you go to the beach, there’s always an orange on the strand line 😉 😕 “strand line?” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/34 "2017-04-05T07:03:17Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕 “strand line?” A line, especially of washed-up seaweed or other debris, marking a previous high water level along a shore. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/35 "2017-04-05T12:27:13Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > … but there’s none in caviar. Is this known to be true? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/36 "2017-04-05T12:45:13Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The Eskimo diet also included fresh and preserved berries … Yes (in some areas), but according to [this article](http://discovermagazine.com/2004/oct/inuit-paradox) only in summer (in NW Alaska). Also from that article: > [@](#): > > the explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson adopted an Eskimo-style diet for five years during the two Arctic expeditions he led between 1908 and 1918. “The thing to do is to find your antiscorbutics where you are,” he wrote. “Pick them up as you go.” In 1928, to convince skeptics, he and a young colleague spent a year on an Americanized version of the diet under medical supervision at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. The pair ate steaks, chops, organ meats like brain and liver, poultry, fish, and fat with gusto. “If you have some fresh meat in your diet every day and don’t overcook it,” Stefansson declared triumphantly, “there will be enough C from that source alone to prevent scurvy.” > > In fact, all it takes to ward off scurvy is a daily dose of 10 milligrams, says Karen Fediuk, a consulting dietitian and former graduate student of Harriet Kuhnlein’s who did her master’s thesis on vitamin C. (That’s far less than the U.S. recommended daily allowance of 75 to 90 milligrams—75 for women, 90 for men.) Also note that truffles appear to be a decent source of Vitamin C. From [this link](http://oilhealthbenefits.com/truffle-oil/): > [@](#): > > Truffles are excellent sources of minerals, but low in Vitamins, except for Vitamin C. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/37 "2017-04-05T13:30:00Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Yes (in some areas), but according to [this article](http://discovermagazine.com/2004/oct/inuit-paradox) only in summer (in NW Alaska). Also from that article: Sure, but it’s not valid to compare that (eat everything you can) to foie gras - which is one organ, from one species. > [@](#): > > Also note that truffles appear to be a decent source of Vitamin C. From [this link](http://oilhealthbenefits.com/truffle-oil/): Can you find an actual nutritional analysis that says so? - because: [ul] [li]This is a pretty nearly uncited claim on a website that is just chock full of uncited claims about oils coconut, argan, etc.[/li][li]In any case, ‘low in vitamins except vitamin C’ is not the same as ‘decent source of Vitamin C’[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/38 "2017-04-05T14:37:54Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > … but there’s none in caviar. > > Is this known to be true? That’s what I’m finding in a Google search. [Here](https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/food-surveys-research-group/docs/whats-in-the-foods-you-eat-emsearch-toolem/), for instance, is a USDA site that provides nutritional info for about 13,000 food items. I did a search for the nutritional content of sturgeon roe, and the result was 0 mg of Vitamin C. BTW, the same site says that 100g of truffles has 0.1mg of Vitamin C. Meanwhile, 100g of raw mushrooms have 2.1mg of Vitamin C. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/39 "2017-04-05T16:39:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The whole point of a diet is you lose weight. That can be a good idea if you do it for a limited period of time and then switch to a less restrictive diet. People at some point switch from a zero-carb diet to a low-carb diet. > > If you’re on a diet that’s causing you to lose weight and you continue on that diet, that’s starvation. As with several other diets\*, Atkins works fine for long term maintenance. There have been no health problems associated with it. - Mediterranean. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659/40 "2017-04-05T16:43:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > … > Can you find an actual nutritional analysis that says so? - because: > [ul] > [li]This is a pretty nearly uncited claim on a website that is just chock full of uncited claims about oils coconut, argan, etc.[/li][li]In any case, ‘low in vitamins except vitamin C’ is not the same as ‘decent source of Vitamin C’[/li][/ul] [Full Report (All Nutrients): 45018888, URBANI TRUFFLES, BLACK TRUFFLES & MUSHROOMS, UPC: 845780036043](https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/23946?fgcd=&manu=&lfacet=&format=&count=&max=50&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=truffles&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=) Lab Protocol Suggestion: Standardized nutrition references to source in OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-and-dying-on-only-caviar-champagne-truffles-foie-gras/783659.md?page=3)