Marilyn Monroe Was Once Named Queen Of This Unexpected Vegetable

Marilyn Monroe is one of those historic figures that exists in the realms of myth and legend. From her coquettish way of speaking to her troubled but glamorous persona, she remains an alluring mystery. While it's hard to pin down the exact details of her life, there's one thing we do know about the "Some Like It Hot" star: in 1948, she was named California Artichoke Queen.

So how did this happen? The exact details of her sovereignty are muddy, to say the least. At the time of her coronation, Monroe was working as a model in her native California. She was hired to help promote a jeweler in Castroville, a town in northern California that happened to be the heart of artichoke farming in the United States. Her dazzling presence was enough to convince the town's artichoke farmers to crown her their Artichoke Queen to promote their product. Only one image exists of this event, which shows her wearing a sash that's still on display in the offices of the Castroville Artichoke Festival. 

Still, the question remains: did Monroe actually love artichokes? While there's no solid evidence of Monroe's personal affinity for the vegetables, one unsubstantiated rumor suggests she ate artichokes not steamed to perfection or with a buttery hollandaise or béarnaise dipping sauce, but sprinkled with sugar. If true, it would be an interesting approach to such a savory-inclined food. Then again, Monroe was known for her unusual culinary tastes.

"I've been told that my eating habits are absolutely bizarre," Monroe once said in an interview with Pageant Magazine. According to Monroe, she sometimes ate warm milk with raw eggs stirred in for breakfast. For dinner, she enjoyed meat — anything from steak to liver — along with one of Monroe's known favorite foods: raw carrots. So perhaps she should have been throned the Carrot Queen rather than the Artichoke Queen. Or better yet, she might have been titled as the princess of raw eggs in warm milk, though that might not be as catchy.