FOOD, and not music, was Elvis Presley�s first and most lasting love. Nothing was more important for the King of Rock n Roll than his daily menu: buttery biscuits, six-egg omelettes served with a pound of burnt bacon, pecan-crusted catfish, smoked back ribs, ground beef burgers, smoked pork sandwiches, fried dill pickles, grits and cheese, bologna cups, sweet potato pie, barbecue pizza, turnip greens, fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, 16 lb T-bone steaks, 8 oz filets of salmon, banana pudding, triple-layer fudge cake.

Elvis�s cuisine reflects his life � both innocent and fabulous � and, in the end, possibly just too much. Elvis cuisine is artery-clogging Southern American cooking raised to baroque new heights. Elvis cuisine is snacking without guilt. Elvis cuisine is eating whenever, whatever and however much you want. Elvis cuisine is literally food lust. The Sunday Times of London on December 24, 1995, in a special on Elvis�s eating habits, revealed the late rocker�s killer diet.

His breakfast was of 5,000 calories and he consumed it at 5 o�clock in the evening, which is generally when he woke up. Elvis had six large eggs cooked in butter with extra salt, one pound of bacon, half a pound of sausages, 12 buttermilk biscuits. Dinner (or lunch) was five hours later, at 10 p.m., and went up to a scary 84,000 calories. It included two "Fool�s Gold" sandwiches: each sandwich was made of a jar of peanut butter, a jar of strawberry jam, one pound of crisp-fried bacon on a baguette cut into two. Elvis had supper at 4 a.m. It was of 5,000 calories. Five double hamburgers and deep-fried peanut butter, and mashed banana sandwiches.

According to the Sunday Times, Elvis�s total dietary intake in calories averaged a minimum of 94,000 per day. The article highlighted that an adult Asian elephant (many tons in weight) had a normal diet of 50,000 calories per day. A British Nutrition Foundation expert was quoted in the article as saying, "I do not know how he did it. The Elvis diet would fuel a normal man for a month." The article concluded that this condition of the King�s (of consuming 94,000 calories worth of food per day) contributed to Elvis�s early death at 42 of a heart attack. The diet might have killed if other causes like a drug overdose or a broken heart did not!

The story goes that one of the most important positions at Elvis�s stately home, Graceland at Memphis in Tennessee, was that of the cook�s. And until he died, for at least 20 years, this position was held by a tiny Southern woman by the name of Mary Jenkins Langston. She stood at only 5 feet 2 inches but her size never stopped Mary from giving the King "what for" for some of his eating habits.

Mary revealed in her cookery book The Elvis Presley Family & Friends Cookbook that she once admonished him for flying to Denver in his private jet to sample a dish he had heard about called �Fool�s Gold Loaf�. The recipe for this, according to Mary, called for one whole load of Italian bread drenched in butter and browned in the oven. The center of the loaf was hollowed out and filled with one pound of crisp-fried bacon! "But Elvis preferred my peanut butter and banana sandwiches," added Mary. "He used to say, �One of the best joys in life May-wee (his nickname for her) is eating your food.� And he would tell friends not to knock those sandwiches until they had tried them."

When Elvis was in residence, Mary said, dinner at Graceland was often a fairly formal affair. The family would dress up and gather in the dining room, a stately place with black marble floor and glittering chandelier. The food was Southern cuisine at its best. Some of the favourite foods served were roast beef, steak, sweet potato pie, and fried green tomatoes. Another standard was Mary�s cornbread which she cooked on the top of the stove in a non-stick skillet. One little-known fact of his diet is that Elvis loved vegetables and there was always a large assortment of them on the table. Banana pudding or blackberry pie was served for dessert.

25th Death Anniversary Events

Elvis Week August 10-18
Each August, devoted King fans make the pilgrimage to Memphis for Elvis Week. There will be events on Beale Street, gospel brunches, fundraisers, impersonators, tours of his birthplace, a university seminar (Is Elvis History?) and fashion shows. There will be a hip-quivering crescendo at the 25th anniversary concert with a reunion of singers and musicians who worked with Elvis. Packages: Roots of Rhythm Travel (www.rootsofrhythm.com) offers tailor-made fly-drive tours. Its eight-day tour during Elvis Week includes Tupelo, Elvis�s birthplace, and costs from 1,250 pounds per person.

The Official Elvis Presley Fan Club Travel Service at Arena Travel (www.arenatravel.com) offers The Memphis Collection 25th Anniversary Tour.

The nine-night tour, including Graceland and a banquet in Tupelo, starts at 918 pounds per person.

The Elvis Presley Cookery Books

The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley by David Adler, Crown Publishing Group, June 1993, 159 pages, paperback.
To write The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley the author set out to discover exactly what Elvis ate at every stage of his life and career, from the 1940s to the 1970s. He went where Elvis ate and talked to the people Elvis ate with to get more than 70 actual recipes and the fascinating, untold stories. This is the definitive Elvis cookbook. And it includes stories about the King and his eating style that will delight, shock and surprise even the most knowledgeable Elvis fan or curious person. It is the first book to explore the last great frontier of Elvis�s life � his stomach.

Are You Hungry Tonight? Elvis�s Favourite Recipes by Donna Presley-Earley, Cumberland House, June 1998, 288 pages, paperback.
If you want to eat some of the food that Elvis Presley enjoyed in his 42 years of life, then this is the cookbook you must have in your kitchen. If you want to try the famous Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich, you will find it here. It�s much more than just a cookbook. The stories about Elvis are touching and are sure to keep Elvis fans and lovers of his food eating in the kitchen for months to come.

Fit For A King: The Elvis Presley Cookbook by Elizabeth McKeon, Rutledge Hill Press, August 1992, 240 pages, paperback.
Those who knew Elvis said he never forgot where he came from or who he was. This was particularly true when it came to the food he preferred, which was traditional Southern all the way. Here is a collection of more than 300 recipes for the dishes Elvis enjoyed, many provided by his longtime cook. Brimming with Elvis facts and trivia throughout.

And A Restaurant Named After The King!
Elvis Presley�s Memphis, the first full-service restaurant and entertainment facility to bear the legendary entertainer�s name, is located on historic Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee.

The restaurant serves meals made from Elvis�s mother�s recipes and includes many of his favourite dishes on the menu. Elvis Presley�s Memphis serves up recipes from Elvis�s mother�s cookbook and includes many of his favourite dishes. Try fried pecan-crusted catfish as an appetiser and then have a Hunka Hunka burger, or the more traditional Elvis fare of the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. Only the napkins have no fat.

The 300-seat facility uses state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and video to highlight the musical performances live on stage as well as special videos produced especially for the club.

A cool, campy elegance in decor, American cuisine with down home Southern classics and live rock n� roll, R&B and gospel music, all characterise Elvis Presley�s Memphis. Special Elvis audio/visual programming, select Elvis artifacts and the music and culture of the Memphis Elvis knew and loved, make Elvis Presley�s Memphis the most distinctive attraction on Beale Street.