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I know a lot of people who hate most vegetables. My dad is afraid of mushrooms and onions. But I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone who has never eaten a vegetable, full stop. In a way, it’s kind of an achievement. Al Michaels is a sportscaster who has been on TV since the 70s, and he’s currently the play-by-play announcer for Thursday Night Football. He’s also never eaten a vegetable to the best of his knowledge and is somehow still alive at 78. Al told Chris Wallace on CNN that he’s proven that vegetables aren’t necessary for survival, and he wouldn’t even try eating a carrot because he believes it wouldn’t “go down well.” Has he heard of soluble fiber?
Al Michaels is on a winning streak. His opponent? Vegetables.
The sports commentator, 78, opened up about his lifelong aversion to the produce in an interview with CNN, telling journalist Chris Wallace that he has gone his entire life without — at least, as Wallace put it, “knowingly” — eating a single vegetable.
In the excerpt of CNN’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, which premiered Friday on Max, Michaels said that his veggie-less diet traces back to his childhood.
“I was born when my parents were 18,” Michaels told the broadcaster. “So [my mom] just let me have the run of the course. And I always pushed the vegetables away. To this day, no.”
He continued, “And I guess what I’ve proven, Chris, is that man does not need vegetables to survive.”
When asked if it is possible that, if he actually tried it, Michaels may actually enjoy a “non-objectionable” vegetable, such as a carrot, the commentator replied, “Oh, please.”
“No, that’s an objectionable vegetable,” he continued.
And how does he know without ever having tasted the orange produce? “I look at it [and] I just don’t even like the look of it. And I surmise what it might taste like, in terms of the texture of it.”
“It just doesn’t look like something that would go down well,” he added.
This man is not a serious person. I mean I guess you don’t need vegetables to survive but the vitamins, minerals, and fiber are key to helping the body function optimally and preventing diseases like rickets or scurvy. There’s more vitamin C per serving in broccoli than there is in oranges! Al looks like he has a case of the meat sweats in this interview, so that’s where his veggie-less life has got him. Sweating like a packet of deli meat left on a car dashboard in Memphis in August. But this story made me think about all the people in America who would like to eat more vegetables but can’t access them because of food deserts, poverty, or both. A lot of people don’t eat vegetables because there isn’t a convenient, affordable place to buy fresh produce in their neighborhoods. It’s annoying to me that someone like Al with a public profile is out there claiming that vegetables aren’t necessary. He gets to refuse them. A lot of people don’t even have the opportunity to turn them down. For what it’s worth, I’ve always hated Brussels sprouts. I don’t care if you slather them in bacon fat and maple syrup, they still taste like gym socks.
Al Michaels has never knowingly ate a vegetable. A heroic act. pic.twitter.com/szZJBupf1I
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 6, 2023
This kind of behavior says terrible things about him. I would never work with someone so irrational and spoiled.
He may be “irrational and spoiled” as you say, but check out the incredible broadcasting during the San Francisco Earthquake while he was in Candlestick Park for the World Series I believe. He ad libbed, kept people calm and reassured and was a hero in every sense of the word! Others stayed under their desks, but Al kept things cool. So don’t eat those veggies if you don’t want! You were my hero on that incredibly frightful day!
I’ll never forget his famous call of the USA – Soviet Union game at the 1980 Olympics: “Do you believe in Miracles??? YES!!!” I have so many feelings tied up in that game and it was soooo long ago!
My brother and his wife aren’t vegetable-eaters, either. It’s disturbing, LOL
I’m pretty sure this is an eating disorder of some form.
I know someone who will only eat beige and brown, and it’s similar. Definitely not healthy.
Not even potatoes? Does he just eat meat and like pasta and bread???
No potatoes? No A-1 steak sauce?
No pumpkin pie? Never paid much attention to NFL play-by-play announcers, so before now I’ve knowingly never heard of this dude. Sorry I learned.
Oh come on. If he eats any kind of spaghetti or marinara sauce then he is getting tomatoes and he has to know that those sauces are made from them.
This had to be hyperbole. It just had to be.
Yep, same with pizza. Onions, tomato, red pepper in the sauce.
That was my first thought — but aren’t tomatoes actually a fruit?
Yes, tomatoes are a fruit.
Yes tomatoes are a fruit. And the man did say “knowingly” thereby admitting he has probably ate vegetables hidden in other things he has eaten. Like onions in pasta sauce. Or if he ate my meatloaf very finely chopped carrots, onions, and celery (finely chopped to sneak them into the veggie hater kids I had).
Tomatoes botanical categorization (fruit) does not match their culinary use (primarily vegetable). This discussion subject appears to be culinary rather than botanical. USDA classifies them as vegetables in nutritional guidelines. Also, per the Supremes: “Tomatoes are ‘vegetables,’ and not ‘fruit,’ within the meaning of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, c. 121.” (Nix v. Hedden, US 149 U.S. 304 (1893)).
@Kirk: for a brief moment, after reading your ‘per the Supremes tomatoes are vegetables’, I started running through my head all the Supremes songs I knew & thought ‘I don’t remember Diana Ross singing about vegetables!’. 😜
When celebrities and people in the public eye make statements like these I instantly just take it with a grain of salt. In this day and age where controversy can spring from anything I do believe sometimes these things are said so the person can make a headline or get attention.
It’s total bullshit that this dude claims he’s never had vegetables and to blame some of that on his parents who he claims had him very young is pretty shameful as well.
Does he not eat Christmas dinner? Or thanksgiving?
Not everyone does those 6+ family members eating 6+ items for their holiday dinners. There was usually just two to four of us and sometimes we skipped the vegetables. Sometimes it was just turkey and biscuits and I was fine with that.
What a sad pathetic little baby. The refusal to even try anything is what you might expect from a petulant 4 year old, not a full grown adult. ‘I don’t like the look of it’ oh my good god
Yeah so he’s like a real life Kevin from The Office but not as cool I guess? I was literally just telling my husband last night when he had the game on and I had to listen to the insufferable Cris Collinsworth talk about a couple that got engaged at the game and he somehow turned it into an “I hate my wife” type joke by saying she couldn’t have the upper hand going into the relationship for some reason, idk I wasn’t paying that much attention, ANYWAY, I was saying how these old white dudes need to get off the air.
what i got from this is he’s an idiot and a baby. i don’t thin this is the flex he thinks it is…
Soup? Everyone loves homemade soup. How do you make it without veggies? Bet his wife hits the puree button to sneak veggies in to meals just like you do for toddlers.
I don’t see how this man is still alive without fiber, think of the constipation issues & the bloating.
Mslove: I came here to say the same thing! Fiber is life!
Well I think he is exaggerating, but many other foods contain fiber like cheese.
Cheese has fiber! 😂
This is what I came here to ask….how do these people survive? Esp to 78? I once knew a guy like him, he wasn’t as old as this man, but still…..like nothing green? A carrot? I guess some people’s systems are just better than mine. Didn’t the Queen have cocktail hour every darn day?? I can’t have one margarita cause it’ll mess up my stomach. WTH man. And I like my veggies! Off the top of my head, I can’t name one I don’t like.
Hear me out about Brussels sprouts. Sometime in the last 15 years they actually bred out the bitterness. Today’s Brussels sprouts taste nothing like they used to. I highly recommend you try them again, roasted with olive oil, balsamic glaze, and salt and pepper.
I did try them recently. Bitter as all get out. But I have a gene where I can taste bitterness in broccoli, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts. Hubby thinks they taste great. I cannot stand any of them.
Oh no I didn’t know there was a gene for that and it’s covers all of those veggies, damn. Brussels are so so good when you cook them right. They still smell terrible but they are one of my favorites now. I’m very lucky that I don’t have that and the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap because I gobble up all of that stuff
Agree, they are gross. No amount of bacon or balsamic or roasting or caramelizing will make them taste good. I do love broccoli, though, and most other veggies.
This kind of pickiness is so off-putting. Hating “vegetables” is like hating “Chinese food” or “dessert.” There are so many kinds, let alone variables and methods of preparation, you’d have to really be dedicated to your hatred to hate EVERY veggie. And carrots sauteed in a little bit of butter, salt and pepper. covered with chicken (or veggie) stock to braise, and then finished with cinnamon and a hint of brown sugar are LIFE CHANGING.
Nobody is saying you have to do full-kale-salad, dummy (although there is a place by my office that does a chopped kale Caesar that is absolutely delicious.)
Is there a special gene for hating snickerdoodles? The “tangy” taste that cream of tartar is supposed to impart just tastes horrible and metallic to me.
I *loathed* brussels sprouts in the 90s, but they form a significant part of my fall/winter diet now. I love them in the air fryer with some olive oil and garlic and maybe a pinch of parmesan. So good!
Is it even possible to not eat vegetables ? Surely it’s either a lie or somebody in his family just mixes some vegetables in his food without telling him (which usually works fine to get children to eat their vegetables).
I’m almost positive that it’s just hyperbole, but still, what a bizarre, stupid, childish thing to brag about. I admittedly have a list of veggies I won’t touch under any circumstances (cucumber, eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower), and some that I refuse to eat raw (carrots, broccoli), but I at least TRIED them first.
He said it was a texture thing. He is not flexing, he is making light of it and fun of himself. He is not and does not preach to anyone else about how to eat, unlike many, many others. Leave him be.
This has been known and discussed about him for DECADES in the sports world. The interviewer must have had nothing better to ask him if he brought this up again, which is weak journalism. In years past, Al has previously discussed his love of fruit, especially blueberries and grapes. And he loves tomato soup when it is cold in the booth (they work with open windows in places like Lambeau in December).
I had a friend in college who had a texture aversion like this and did not willingly eat vegetables or fruit. i was astounded. She did eat tomato sauce on pizza and calzone. The only thing she tolerated was apples in small doses. She was embarrassed about it and mealtimes often pained her. But she didn’t have to answer for it on the record for decades.
There are so many offensive jackass people in the sports business doing and saying deeply gross and offensive things, Al Michaels hating vegetables may be idiosyncratic, but hardly outrageous.
My son is also picky about food textures . He won’t eat peas, raw tomatoes, or mashed potatoes because it. Nothing to do with the taste.
Thank You for your reasonable analysis
Hey Carina: kudos for your wonderfully evocative ‘Sweating like a packet of deli meat left on a car dashboard in Memphis in August.’ ! It reminded me of people I’ve worked with, who would stick their lunches on the dash in order to have it hot by lunchtime (archaeologist here). Throughout the afternoon I’d be distracted by waiting for the inevitable consequences which, weirdly enough, never happened.
Super late to this party, but it honestly it sounds like a form of ARFID- Avoidant Restricted Food Intake Disorder which is a selective eating disorder. Folks that have this be extremely picky in what they eat. It’s not an uncommon thing for people to have and is a real diagnosis.
Sounds like a little kid’s dream.
To me this just screams undiagnosed autism. And I say that as someone on the spectrum.