Food fads of the rich and famous - Barack Obama, Kim Jong-un and other picky eaters

It has emerged the Queen dislikes seafood but is partial to a jam penny - but what else do the great and the good love and hate on their dinner table?

Fussy: The President of the US is not a fan of beetroot

If the Queen’s coming round for tea, leave oysters and lobster off the menu.

It has emerged Her Majesty dislikes seafood, with an absence of shellfish her only dietary requirement during a state visit to Ireland in 2011.

The Queen is partial to a jam penny – a white bread, butter and jam sandwich cut into a two-inch circle.

The snack was revealed by former royal chef Darren McGrady, who also revealed her favourite cake was a honey and cream sponge.

Chef Rosaleen McBride, who cooked for the Queen on the trip, revealed her dislike for the sea creatures during a London gathering earlier this week of the world’s most exclusive gastronomic club, Le Club des Chefs des Chefs, whose members cook for prime ministers and heads of state.

Ms McBride said: “The only diet requirement was no shellfish.

"Probably it’s a precaution, because of the dangers around shellfish.”

So what else do the great and good love to eat , and what foods can they not stand?

Barack Obama

Give Barack Obama a hotdog and he’s happy as larry. But dare to sneak beetroot onto the 52-year-old president’s plate and there will be hell to pay.

For Obama, 52, despises the red vegetable.

And even when Michelle Obama was drawing up a list of produce to include in the White House veg garden, beetroot was excluded.

George W Bush

Another president with finicky tastes, George W Bush detests broccoli so much he banned it from the White House and Air Force One.

When asked about it, the 68-year-old Republican said: “I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it.

"And I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!’”

Kim Jong-un

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, 31, loves Emmental cheese so much that he sent a group of food production experts to the French city of Besancon to study at the National Dairy Industry College.

He wanted them to learn how to make the holey cheese themselves even though it’s Dutch.

Nicolas Sarkozy

Brie, camembert, roquefort...the list of cheese the French are known for is endless but former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, 59, ordered the stuff be removed from the menu of the Elysée Palace in Paris describing it as just “too much”.

Pope Francis

While his predecessor Pope Benedict liked to feast on fettuccine with prawns, courgette and expensive saffron, Pope Francis likes much more basic food.

Before he became head of the Catholic church he was known to cook his own meals.

And now he sticks to the Jesuit tradition of eating basic, simple foods but takes the occasional break to treat himself to his favourite meal of bagna cauda – a classic farmer’s dish of roasted carrot, celery and artichoke dipped in a hot broth with garlic and olive oil.

Prince Charles

Prince Charles is a picky eater especially at breakfast.

He loves freshly squeezed orange juice, granary toast, peeled and cut fruit. But it’s the 65-year-old heir’s honey fixation that stands out – he always has six types on the table.

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria liked plain food, pies and simple soups, going against the trend of the time to dine on fancy French fare.

But she did like a rather odd tipple to wash it down with – a mix of claret and whisky.

Richard Nixon

Cottage Cheese (Pic: Getty Images) — Cottage Cheese: Richard Nixox loved it

As the 37th president of the US, Richard Nixon was the most important man in the world during the early 1970s.

And what was his successful career built on? A daily breakfast of cottage cheese with ketchup on top.

In fact he loved the cheese so much, one of his last meals in the White House was believed to be cottage cheese with pineapple.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan loved jelly beans so much, he served up 3.5 tonnes of them at his 1981 inauguration as the 40th President of America.

He was such a fan of Jelly Belly sweets he kept a bowlful on his White House desk throughout his time in office.

He said: “You can tell a lot about a fella’s character by whether he picks out all of one colour or just grabs a handful.”

Saddam Hussein

Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein built a fearsome reputation as a bloodthirsty, ruthless leader.

But after his capture in 2003, the Pennsylvania National Guard who watched over him in captivity revealed his taste buds to be modestly suburban – he loved Raisin Bran Crunch but hated sweet Froot Loops.

Vladimir Putin

Such is Vladimir Putin’s paranoia about being poisoned he has every dish tasted before eating it in case it has been laced with something deadly.

And one of the 61-year-old’s favourites, bizarrely considering Russia’s freezing temperatures, is pistachio ice cream.

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