The Queen Is Apparently an Anti-Foodie Who Sees Food as "Just Fuel"

• Even though the royal family has access to a team of personal chefs on call to make them any meal their hearts desire, the Queen reportedly has incredibly simple taste when it comes to food.
• In his new book Long Live the Queen! 13 Rules for Living from Britain's Longest Reigning Monarch (opens in new tab), royal author Bryan Kozlowski explains that the Queen is the opposite of a foodie and only sees food as "fuel."
• According to a former footman, the Queen's tastes are so simple, in fact, that the palace staff regularly makes more elaborate meals for themselves than for the royal family.

The royal family (opens in new tab) has access to personal chefs who are ready to cook them the most decadent meals imaginable on a moment's notice—but not every royal actually takes advantage of that job perk.

According to royal author Bryan Kozlowski (opens in new tab) in his new book Long Live the Queen! 13 Rules for Living from Britain's Longest Reigning Monarch (opens in new tab), the Queen herself is so low-key about her food preferences, she's pretty much the opposite of a foodie.

"Straightforward simplicity has marked the Queen's dining habits since childhood," Kozlowski writes.

A royal source summed it up perfectly to royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith (opens in new tab), explaining that, not only is the Queen (opens in new tab) "not particular" about food, but that, "to her, food is just fuel."

According to Kozlowski, this has done a lot to shape the culture within the palace, where the Queen and other senior royals (opens in new tab) tend to eat very simple meals. Their meals are often so simple, in fact, that the royal staff (opens in new tab) prepare more elaborate meals for themselves than for their bosses.

"That sort of meal might be all right for the Royals, but it wasn't good enough for the staff," one former footman is quoted as saying in the book.

The upside, apparently, is that Queen Elizabeth II (opens in new tab) is notoriously easy to cook for—although she does still reportedly keep a small notebook handy at the dinner table so she can easily jot down notes for the kitchen staff on the rare occasion that she has *thoughts* about the menu.