Only Boomers Remember This Old-School Delicacy Meat That James Bond Ate For Breakfast

Nowadays we associate baby boomers with comfortable excess: Margaritavilles, cruise ship buffets, the works. But in fairness to the richest generation in history, this wasn't universally the case. Baby boomers, especially those in Europe, also grew up in the shadow of World War II. Rationing eventually ended, but old habits die hard and some boomers continued to eat grilled kidney afterward. It turns out they were in good company, as it was also eaten by James Bond.

The food makes an appearance in the novel "Dr. No", which despite being the basis for the first James Bond film was actually the sixth book in Ian Fleming's series. It's part of a large breakfast served to Bond by the titular villain in a luxurious prison. The spread consisted of (among other things) toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage. (It's not quite a full English breakfast, one of the many breakfasts from around the world you can try to switch things up, but it's close.) We suppose anyone would be tired after a meal like that, but Bond ends up conking out a little quicker than most with a little help from a sedative slipped into his meal by Dr. No himself. So long as you're not depending on the hospitality of a sinister criminal mastermind, you can eat grilled kidney with no such problems.

Americans may be looking at all this with some suspicion since we don't eat offal in most circumstances. The country's agricultural abundance makes it so we don't need to use every part of the metaphorical buffalo. Add to that the fact that kidneys, being the organ that produces urine, have a tendency to smell or taste a little bit like, you know, pee. But James Bond and his fellow Brits have been making use of kidneys for a long time, whether they be from cows, chickens, or lambs.

You've probably heard of steak and kidney pie before, if only because it was mentioned in the first Harry Potter book. It's basically what it sounds like: A steak pie made with either shortcrust or hot water pastry (the old-school technique that makes British meat pies so crispy), with bits of kidney added into the mince. But kidney doesn't only end up baked into a pie, as James Bond's breakfast can attest. It can also be grilled on a skewer and served, or simply put on a piece of toast in the classic British way. And you thought beans on toast were weird!