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The Gold Rush (1925)
The Guests: The Little Tramp and his prospecting partner Big Jim McKay
The Menu: One boot, boiled.
The Occasion: In this famous scene from the film that Charlie Chaplin considered the movie he would most like to be remembered for, two prospectors are trapped in an Arctic cabin and facing starvation. Forced to eat his boot, Chaplin makes the best of it by treating it as if it were a gourmet meal. His cabin mate has a different sort of imagination--he looks at Charlie and sees a giant roast chicken! The boot was actually made out of black licorice, which would ordinarily be harmless, except that after more than 60 takes of the scene Chaplin, who was diabetic, went into insulin shock and had to be rushed to the hospital. (In 1980, filmmaker Werner Herzog cooked and ate his own boot for real as payoff on a bet he lost. He deep fried it in duck fat, which made it nearly impossible to chew.)
The Gold Rush, 1925. Photo courtesy of the Everett Collection.
