The One Food James Brown Made Sure To Get Everywhere He Went

Food can be delicious, but it's also fuel to the body. For the "Godfather of Soul," James Brown, the food that powered his dancing feet was steak. According to the Reverend Al Sharpton, who has referred to Brown on social media as his surrogate father, not only did James Brown love steaks ... but, when he ordered them, he ensured that's what everyone at the table was eating!

"James Brown was a steak man. Loved steaks," Sharpton told GQ in 2019. "When I say he's autocratic, I mean he would order, and we all had to eat what he ate [...] If he ordered that, nobody else asked you, 'What are you having?' I went all over the world with him — steak, steak, steak." This habit continued until Brown changed things up for his health, Sharpton reported: "One day, he told me, 'I heard steak is no good,' so he started cutting it out in his later years. But I knew James Brown from '73 until he died, and for at least 25 years, he was totally a steak guy."

Did James Brown take his steak blue rare, or was he a medium-well kind of consumer? Did he favor ribeye or New York strip? Rev. Sharpton didn't specify, but we can assume that Brown was eating only the best. Ordering for the whole table was just one of Brown's quirks. Also according to Sharpton in an interview with The Root, Brown was the type to stand on formality and have even his close friends call him "Mr. Brown." He preferred last names, which makes us think he probably used exquisite manners while eating his beloved steak.

On the occasion of the premiere of "James Brown: Say It Loud," a A&E network documentary about James Brown's legendary life, his daughter, Dr. Deanna Brown Thomas, was reminiscing about her father on Instagram. The caption of a post where she was photographed with several members of the Brown family said: "If [my father] was still here after the premiere we would have had a private dinner and talk [sic] about 'Daddy' all night.. after he orders everybody's food. You eat what he eat." It seemed that Brown's tendencies towards what Rev. Sharpton called autocracy extended to his immediate family as well!

Dr. Thomas is currently president of the James Brown Family Foundation, which provides food, toys, and access to musical education to the children of Augusta, Georgia. In an interview with Tidal, she confirmed that her father was both strict and intensely charitable. John Wayne liked to grill old-school cowboy steaks for his family – did Brown ever cook out for the kids, we wonder?