The Extremely Decadent Sandwich That Was Elvis Presley’s Ultimate Obsession
When people talk about Elvis Presley’s lifestyle, it’s usually the music, the rhinestone jumpsuits, or Graceland that comes up first. But buried in all those legends is another piece of his story as jaw-dropping as his stage presence: the King had a thing for sandwiches that could make a dietitian faint. His appetite created a food myth so outrageous it still gets talked about today, with one sandwich standing above the rest for sheer excess and bizarre brilliance.
The Fool’s Gold Loaf
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Food Stories
The most notorious chapter in Elvis’s food history started in Denver during the mid-1970s. At a restaurant called the Colorado Mine Company, he discovered something called the Fool’s Gold Loaf. The recipe was simple in concept but monstrous in execution: one hollowed-out loaf of sourdough bread packed with an entire pound of bacon, a full jar of peanut butter, and another jar of jelly.
By the time it was assembled, this single sandwich pushed an estimated 8,000 calories. The story goes that one night in 1976, Elvis wanted one badly enough to hop on his private jet with friends and fly from Memphis to Denver to get it.
Depending on the account, he was greeted with anywhere between 22 and 30 of these colossal sandwiches. He didn’t bother leaving the airport hangar—he sat there with champagne, Perrier, and the Fool’s Gold Loaf before heading back home. For him, it was worth the flight.
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While the Fool’s Gold Loaf gets the spotlight for its size, Elvis’s regular favorite was more manageable, though still heavy. At Graceland, he often asked his longtime cook, Mary Jenkins Langston, to fry up peanut butter and banana sandwiches for him.
Her version involved two slices of white bread, thick peanut butter, sliced bananas, and an alarming amount of butter, sometimes up to a stick for a single sandwich. Bacon was frequently added, turning it into a salty-sweet creation that fans now know simply as “The Elvis.”
Accounts say he could put away several of these sandwiches in one sitting. Some estimates claim six to eight at a time, proving this wasn’t a casual snack. It was an obsession. Over the years, this smaller but equally rich sandwich became the one most closely tied to his name, inspiring countless variations in diners and cookbooks across the South.
Looking at Elvis’s diet as a whole, moderation was never the goal. He liked food that was indulgent, comforting, and sometimes over-the-top. Party meatballs, fried pickles, and cheeseburgers were part of the rotation, but the sandwiches defined his legend. The Fool’s Gold Loaf was the wild indulgence, but the peanut butter-banana-bacon combination became the icon, immortalized on menus long after his final performance.