Billy Bob Thornton has revealed his latest unusual snack discovery: grapes dipped in Dijon mustard. The Landman actor, known for his role in Bad Santa, shared this surprising pairing during a recent appearance on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast, attributing it to his strict dietary restrictions.
Health Issues Drive Creative Snacking
The 70-year-old actor opened up about his health problems on the May 5 episode. “My diet's very restricted,” he explained. “Well, I'm allergic to wheat, dairy. I have type AB negative blood, which is the rarest type in the world. It's like less than one percent of the population of the world has it.”
Thornton noted that his blood type makes digesting certain foods more difficult. In addition to wheat and dairy, he cannot eat shellfish or any meat, including “pork or beef or any of that stuff.”
Green Room Discovery
He recounted a recent experience in a green room before a press event for Landman, Taylor Sheridan’s Western drama in which he stars as oil executive Tommy Morris. Disappointed to find a platter of deli meats, cheeses, and crackers that he could not eat, he spotted some white grapes. Bored with plain grapes, he looked for a way to enhance them.
“Then I saw some spicy Dijon mustard, and I thought, I wonder...” he explained, as Mandel exclaimed, “No!” Thornton continued: “I dipped this grape in the Dijon mustard. It was one of the best things I ever had in my lifetime. So now it's become a thing for me.”
Living with Allergies
Thornton said that although he had allergies while growing up in Arkansas and Texas, he still “ate everything.” “I just assumed everybody felt like s*** after they ate. I didn't know,” he said.
Before filming the podcast episode, he had a bowl of blueberries and decaf coffee for breakfast. “But when I get home, it's, like, wide open,” he said. “I'm going to have some gluten-free chips with some dairy-free cream cheese. So, I'm really looking forward to that... Every now and then I’ll mix a little ketchup into it.”
Earlier in the episode, Thornton admitted to feeding Mandel’s son, who is friends with his own son, a “hillbilly bagel” consisting of a bagel, cream cheese, and ketchup. “I make all kinds of junk like that because I don’t know how to cook,” he said.
