In a 2021 interview with Stephen Colbert, Ringo Starr said that a plain, grilled cheese sandwich is the best version of the classic dish. The Beatles’ drummer is a vegetarian and, as Colbert points out, is “a simple man.” Starr offers only one specification for his ideal sandwich, clarifying that it must include goat cheese.
Ringo follows a strict vegetarian diet and refuses to eat anything made from cow’s milk, as the molecules are so big and that a goat’s is much smaller.
How to Make It:
Two slices of toasted bread or toast. A combination of soft, spreadable goat cheese (chèvre) and hard goat cheddar.
Starr doesn’t say that his ideal sandwich must be limited to a single kind of goat cheese, and in his re-creation, he chooses a soft, spreadable chèvre and a firm, grazeable goat’s milk cheddar.
He toasts two slices of bread in a pan until golden brown on both sides. (You can toast the bread in butter, but if you want to stay true to Starr’s preference for no cow products, a plant-based margarine would work well.) He then spreads a thick layer of chèvre on one slice, grates a generous amount of the firm goat cheese over it, and finishes the sandwich with the other piece of toast.
“I love an elaborate sandwich piled high with toppings, but I also love a simple grilled cheese – and I see no reason I can’t make one with tangy, rich chèvre. I also appreciate niche food preferences.”
Ringo Starr’s unique sandwich rationale has earned a permanent place in James Beard’s repertoire of “weird” recipes.
Watch a short demonstration on how to prepare Ringo Starr’s favorite goat cheese sandwich:Ringo Starr’s Favorite Sandwich!
The Beatles and Vegetarianism
What Beatles were Vegetarians?
All four members of The Beatles practiced vegetarianism at various points in their lives, though only three became committed, long-term vegetarians.
Photo courtesy by X.
Paul McCartney became a strict vegetarian in the mid-1970s alongside his late wife, Linda, and remained a prominent advocate for animal rights. Paul McCartney has been a vegetarian since 1975.
McCartney and his first wife, Linda, made the choice while relaxing at their 151-acre ranch near Tucson, Arizona. They watched lambs playing outside the window while eating a meal that included lamb chops, noticing the direct connection between the living animal and the food on their plates. He follows a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, meaning no meat and fish, but still eats dairy and eggs.
He frequently works with groups like PETA to speak out against factory farming. He once said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.”
In 2009, he and his daughters launched a global campaign to encourage people to skip meat one day a week to help the planet.
George Harrison focused on a vegetarian lifestyle in 1966, influenced by his exploration of Indian culture and Hinduism, sticking with it for the rest of his life.
His diet was heavily influenced by his embrace of Hinduism and Eastern philosophy.
He connected deeply with ‘ahimsa,’ the Indian principle of non-violence toward all living things.
He often stated that killing animals for food was unnatural, unhealthy, and created bad karma.
Ringo Starr embraced a meat-free diet later on for health and ethical reasons, adopting it more consistently in his later life. He stopped eating meat in 1965 after witnessing a bullfight in Spain.
He generally eats broccoli with almost every meal and starts his mornings with a bowl of blueberries. He is not vegan and, as stated above, consumes goat cheese, though he avoids dairy products from cows.
John Lennon experimented with vegetarianism briefly on and off starting around 1967 (often leaning toward a macrobiotic diet that occasionally included fish), making him the only member who never fully committed to a permanent vegetarian lifestyle. John Lennon was not permanently a vegetarian, though he experimented with vegetarian and macrobiotic diets for much of his later life.
Alongside Yoko Ono, he largely followed a macrobiotic diet focused on whole grains, rice, and vegetables, which occasionally permits eating fish (pescatarian elements).
He never fully committed to lifelong vegetarianism; he regularly lapsed back into eating meat, fast food and junk food or a full English breakfast when it suited him.
