These days, the queen and her family's favorite foods are common knowledge among royal fans.
For example, Queen Elizabeth herself reportedly loves chocolate biscuit cake when she's on
the road, and often has a cup of Earl Gray and a bowl of Special K for breakfast.
When they were young, Prince William and Prince Harry allegedly had a taste for banana-flavored
desserts, including banana flan and banana ice cream.
And Prince Charles is apparently partial to lamb with porcini mushroom risotto.
In recent years, however, it has also become clear that there are certain foods and ingredients
that are very much off the menu in Buckingham Palace.
Many commentators have suspected that the royals' culinary rules may have been particularly
hard on Meghan Markle when she was first welcomed into the family.
As a self-proclaimed foodie, Markle has dished on all her favorite meals in the past, and
frequently talks about how much she enjoys trying out new foods.
While staying at the palace, however, there would have been a number of staple ingredients
that she wouldn't have been allowed to eat — either because they're disliked by the
queen or they've been deemed unsafe for working royals to consume.
Take garlic, for example.
In May 2020, former Buckingham Palace chef Darren McGrady told his YouTube followers:
"Are there foods or ingredients the royal family dislike?
The queen doesn't like garlic, Dusty, we could never use it at Buckingham Palace."
In addition, Camilla Parker-Bowles once said on a MasterChef Australia appearance that
"garlic is a no-no" at royal events, as it can quickly make for an unpleasant experience
when engaging in conversation.
Unfortunately, Meghan Markle appears to love eating dishes that contain heaps of garlic.
One of her most favorite dishes, Filipino chicken adobo, has plenty of it — and it
probably doesn't help that onions are also apparently avoided by the chefs at Buckingham
Palace.
Her royal diet troubles likely didn't end there, though.
In the past, Meghan Markle has confessed on some of her now-deleted Instagram posts that
she adores pasta.
She also once told Delish:
"When I'm traveling, I won't miss an opportunity to try great pasta.
I come back from vacation every year with a food baby, and I've named her Comida.
I get to the set and I'm like, 'Hey, Comida's here, and she's kicking.'"
To give her pasta dishes a healthier kick, Markle apparently enjoys making sauce out
of zucchini by slow-cooking it for four to five hours, then adding a little bouillon.
You won't find that at Buckingham Palace, though.
The queen almost never eats pasta or other starchy foods, such as rice or potatoes, because
she tries not to load up on simple carbohydrates.
Instead, palace meals tend to be a little leaner, often utilizing fish, meat, or vegetables.
Shellfish is off the menu, too.
The royals consider shellfish to be too dangerous for consumption, as it is more likely than
other meals to cause food poisoning or indigestion.
Former royal butler Grant Harold once said:
"It is a very sensible move to abandon having seafood when out and about on public duties.
We don't want a member of the Royal family having a serious reaction to food poisoning,
especially if she is on an overseas tour."
It's not known whether Markle has a particular fondness for shellfish, but she certainly
does love sushi — something else the royals avoid like the plague, for pretty obvious
reasons.
Still, the seafood rule has at least been broken on occasion.
Prince William also loves sushi, while Prince Charles occasionally enjoys a shellfish dish.
Even the queen herself has publicly eaten seafood during her reign.
During a 1986 trip to China, she ate a dish of sea slug with chopsticks, claiming at the
time that it was "delicious."
She later said that it had a mild flavor similar to shrimp, but ultimately, it "tasted not
of much."
And although sea slug may not be on the menu in most of California's eateries, there's
certainly plenty of garlic, pasta, and seafood to go around.
For that reason, at least, you can probably assume that Meghan's pretty pleased with her
new life in the States.
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