Tarrare began his life of gluttony as a street performer wowing crowds by eating anything they gave him. He d gobble down sacks full of apples, handfuls of corks, bags of coins, just about anything. HowStuffWorks
There once was a man named Tarrare
Whose appetite was rather bizarre
Despite constant consumption
So, he binged until he bid au revoir
Coins, corks, live kittens and puppies, eels and even corpses nothing could satisfy the insatiable appetite of the 18th century Frenchman Tarrare. He was such a slave to his hunger that he would do anything to repress it.
The brief and disturbing life of Tarrare is a fascinating case study of perhaps the most bizarre eating disorder ever, and one that remains a medical mystery some 250 years later.