Idris Elba's Go-To Late Night Snack Is A Spoonful Of Sweetness

Few actors can convey authority, charisma, and menace quite like Idris Elba. You may know him as Stringer Bell, the business-minded gangster from "The Wire"; as the voice of Chief Bogo in "Zootopia"; or as the terrifying Commandant in "Beasts of No Nation" (for which he was absolutely robbed of an Oscar nomination, if not a win). And while he might be a little too old to play James Bond these days (apparently they want someone youthful for the new 007), it's still hard to imagine a more thrilling what-if than him taking up the tuxedo. All of which raises an interesting question: What does a man with this many talents eat? Well, lots of things — but for a snack, he likes high-quality honey.

In an interview with GQ about his dietary habits, Elba explained what he does when he gets home late. He doesn't like to eat after nine in the evening, but because he needs something to satisfy his sweet tooth after a long day, he turns to honey. "That usually curbs any hunger pangs, and I'll sleep all through the night when I do that," Elba said. "Then when I wake up in the morning, my metabolism really kicks in." It might sound a little strange, but a man of Elba's means can afford the really good stuff, like tupelo honey (which is so expensive due to how difficult it is to produce).

That's far from the only tidbit Elba offers, mind you. For dinner, Elba eats protein-rich fare like chicken or fish, except when he arrives late — that's where the aforementioned spoonful of honey comes in. He also enjoys African foods, but as they're rather carb-rich and he's trying to cut back, he doesn't eat them too often, which means the poor man is missing out on delights like fufu and other West African foods.

He eats breakfast every morning, consisting of a few medicinal supplements, hard-boiled eggs, and decaf coffee. (Why decaf? Elba claims that he likes the taste of coffee enough that he doesn't need caffeine.) Throughout the day, he says he tries to avoid snacks, only enjoying eggs or chicken sausage as a midday meal — although he does mention being partial to bananas, nutritionally rich as they are. Perhaps he made use of our article about the red flag that you should look out for when picking out bananas — if he did, hi, Idris! You were great in "Three Thousand Years of Longing"!