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I know a lot of people who hate most vegetables. My dad is afraid of mushrooms and onions. But I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone who has never eaten a vegetable, full stop. In a way, it’s kind of an achievement. Al Michaels is a sportscaster who has been on TV since the 70s, and he’s currently the play-by-play announcer for Thursday Night Football. He’s also never eaten a vegetable to the best of his knowledge and is somehow still alive at 78. Al told Chris Wallace on CNN that he’s proven that vegetables aren’t necessary for survival, and he wouldn’t even try eating a carrot because he believes it wouldn’t “go down well.” Has he heard of soluble fiber?

Al Michaels is on a winning streak. His opponent? Vegetables.

The sports commentator, 78, opened up about his lifelong aversion to the produce in an interview with CNN, telling journalist Chris Wallace that he has gone his entire life without — at least, as Wallace put it, “knowingly” — eating a single vegetable.

In the excerpt of CNN’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, which premiered Friday on Max, Michaels said that his veggie-less diet traces back to his childhood.

“I was born when my parents were 18,” Michaels told the broadcaster. “So [my mom] just let me have the run of the course. And I always pushed the vegetables away. To this day, no.”

He continued, “And I guess what I’ve proven, Chris, is that man does not need vegetables to survive.”

When asked if it is possible that, if he actually tried it, Michaels may actually enjoy a “non-objectionable” vegetable, such as a carrot, the commentator replied, “Oh, please.”

“No, that’s an objectionable vegetable,” he continued.

And how does he know without ever having tasted the orange produce? “I look at it [and] I just don’t even like the look of it. And I surmise what it might taste like, in terms of the texture of it.”

“It just doesn’t look like something that would go down well,” he added.

[From People]

This man is not a serious person. I mean I guess you don’t need vegetables to survive but the vitamins, minerals, and fiber are key to helping the body function optimally and preventing diseases like rickets or scurvy. There’s more vitamin C per serving in broccoli than there is in oranges! Al looks like he has a case of the meat sweats in this interview, so that’s where his veggie-less life has got him. Sweating like a packet of deli meat left on a car dashboard in Memphis in August. But this story made me think about all the people in America who would like to eat more vegetables but can’t access them because of food deserts, poverty, or both. A lot of people don’t eat vegetables because there isn’t a convenient, affordable place to buy fresh produce in their neighborhoods. It’s annoying to me that someone like Al with a public profile is out there claiming that vegetables aren’t necessary. He gets to refuse them. A lot of people don’t even have the opportunity to turn them down. For what it’s worth, I’ve always hated Brussels sprouts. I don’t care if you slather them in bacon fat and maple syrup, they still taste like gym socks.

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