15 Iconic Celebrity Meals Sold at Auction
When hunger meets celebrity worship, the results can be absurd. A piece of toast that Justin Timberlake didn’t finish sold for over $1,000, proving that one person’s leftover breakfast is another person’s treasure. The auction world has seen everything from half-eaten sandwiches to untouched gourmet dinners fetch eye-watering sums. Below are the most outrageous celebrity meal sales that left bidders both satisfied and financially lighter.
Kurt Cobain’s Pizza Plate
— Illustration by melanjurga
A paper plate was sold by Julien’s Auctions for $22,400 in 2019. But this wasn’t just any disposable dinnerware.
Kurt Cobain had eaten a piece of pizza off of it, then wrote the band’s setlist on it for their April 23, 1990 performance at Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club. The scent of pepperoni and rock history combined into one expensive memento.
Justin Timberlake’s French Toast
Leftover French toast from Justin Timberlake was auctioned off on eBay after he’d appeared on a radio show. A 19-year-old fan from Wisconsin bought the leftovers for $1,025. When JT didn’t finish his breakfast during an interview at radio station Z-100, the DJ seized the moment.
The buyer, Kathy Summers, had plans: “I’ll probably freeze-dry it, then seal it…then put it on my dresser”. Smart preservation strategy for syrup-soaked celebrity carbs.
Britney Spears’ Egg Salad Sandwich
In 2006, pop siren Britney Spears and then-husband Kevin Federline supposedly ate an egg salad sandwich and a corn dog, respectively, at a catered affair at an unidentified hotel. The “Oops!… I Did It Again” singer didn’t finish her sandwich and Federline didn’t finish his corn dog, but when the server came to take away their plates, Spears took a bite of the corn dog, saying, “I can’t let that go to waste”.
The server put the unfinished foodstuffs on Australian eBay and after 43 bids, the Golden Palace Casino emerged victorious. Nothing says romance like auctioning your leftovers.
Niall Horan’s Vegemite Toast
Niall Horan’s uneaten Vegemite toast went for an astounding $100,000 on eBay. The One Direction star’s breakfast became someone’s retirement fund.
Half-eaten celebrity bread products clearly represent a lucrative market segment. Who knew carbohydrates could be so valuable?
McDonald’s BTS Chicken Nugget
The nugget resembles a character from the hugely popular multiplayer video game Among Us. It was also part of an exclusive meal launched by McDonald’s in collaboration with multiple Guinness World Records title holders BTS. The bidding started at 99 cents.
After 183 subsequent bids, the nugget sold for just under $100,000 and was delivered “frozen and then air sealed to ensure freshness”. Sometimes fast food becomes fine art.
Frank Sinatra’s Entenmann’s Crumb Cake
While not technically sold at auction, Sinatra developed a particular affection for Entenmann’s crumb cake, a delicacy that you can still buy to this day. The crooner was such a fan that he would have the cakes specifically sent to his 4,500 square foot home in Palm Springs, and did so for a number of years. Imagine if one of those delivered cakes had survived.
Sinatra’s love for this treat was so profound that he established a weekly standing order for it in the 1950s. Pure dedication to dessert.
Marilyn Monroe’s Breakfast Ingredients
The actress liked to start the day with a cup of milk, which she warmed up in her hotel room using a hot plate. She’d mix it with raw eggs and take vitamins. Not glamorous, but practical.
If any of Monroe’s personal breakfast supplies had made it to auction, they’d probably fetch more than most people’s cars. Celebrity nutrition commands premium prices.
Elvis Presley’s Prescription Bottle
Elvis Presley may have left this mortal plane 42 years ago, but the effort to make money off of his belongings lives on. Those belongings aren’t limited just to iconic items like his cape or jumpsuit either – in 2016, his empty prescription pill bottle for Quaaludes was sold at Julien’s Auctions for $8,320.
Not a meal, exactly. But it probably affected his appetite. Everything Elvis-related transforms into gold.
McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce
Back when “Mulan” was released in 1998, McDonald’s whipped this sauce out as part of a promotion for the movie. It was then immortalized in an episode of “Rick and Morty,” and because that fandom is so incredibly intense, it sold for nearly $15,000 in the blink of an eye.
Animated television created a condiment crisis. The sauce achieved legendary status among fans who never even tasted it.
Royal Wedding Cake Slice
Someone did just that at a 2021 auction in Western England, where their bid netted a 28-ounce slice of one of the 23 cakes made for Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s lavish 1981 wedding. Preserved since the big day in plastic wrap and an old tin, the cake was decorated with a coat of arms and was described as so well preserved that it could be “a good sales pitch for clingfilm”.
The slice sold for more than $2,500. Forty-year-old cakes shouldn’t be edible, but royal frosting apparently defies time.
Japanese Bluefin Tuna
Japanese tuna used primarily for sushi is sold at auction in fish markets. The most famous market, Tsukiji, was relocated to make way for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, leading to a January 2019 auction of the first tuna at the new market, Toyosu. It sold for $3.1 million.
The winning bidder owns a sushi chain and has held the record for the most expensive tuna purchase many years in the past. When you’re competing for the world’s best fish, price becomes irrelevant.
KFC Colonel Sanders White Suit
Masao “Charlie” Watanabe is a fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken, that’s for sure, and his home country of Japan loves the Colonel; he even claims that most KFCs have statues of Harland out front. He was happy to lay down 20 grand for the iconic white suit at a KFC memorabilia auction he attended while on a work trip in Dallas.
The suit probably still smelled like eleven herbs and spices. Some people collect art; others collect deep-fried history.
Cabrales Cheese Wheel
In 2018, a group of 15 Spanish restaurateurs battled it out to buy a wheel of an artisanal variety known as Cabrales, with the winning bid clocking in at more than $15,000. Why so much? The cheese matures for three to six months, with weekly care, in the caves of Picos de Europa, most of which are accessible only via a 1-plus-mile hike.
When your cheese requires mountain climbing to produce, it better be worth the expedition. And apparently, it was.
White Truffle from Tuscany
The most expensive truffle to date was a very large 3.3-pound specimen that was dug up in Tuscany. A billionaire Macau casino owner named Stanley Ho bought it for $330,000. Underground fungi shouldn’t cost more than luxury cars.
But when pigs sniff out your dinner and it weighs over three pounds, normal pricing rules don’t apply.
Ham from Kentucky State Fair
An annual ham breakfast hosted by the Kentucky Farm Bureau at the Kentucky State Fair always includes a charity auction. In 2021, Central Bank and power couple Kelly and Joe Craft shelled out some $4.8 million for a 17-pound ham.
At that price, each slice costs more than most people’s monthly rent. But it was for charity, so the pig died for a good cause.
The Hunger Games
Celebrity food auctions reveal something profound about human nature. We’ll pay extraordinary amounts for the mundane when it’s touched by fame. Whether it’s cold toast or expensive fish, the celebrity connection transforms simple meals into priceless artifacts worth more than houses.
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