Elvis Presley could afford almost any meal in the world.
But some of his favorite foods were surprisingly simple.
At Graceland, one snack became especially associated with him: a fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich.
His longtime cook Mary Jenkins Langston later explained that getting it exactly right took some experimenting. Elvis wanted the bread lightly toasted before peanut butter and banana were added, then the whole sandwich was fried in a generous amount of butter.
Mary remembered Elvis being extremely particular about the result.
She reportedly used as much as two sticks of butter for three sandwiches, repeatedly turning them until the butter had soaked into the bread.
But even that famous sandwich was small compared with another Elvis favorite.
During a visit to Colorado, Elvis discovered something called the Fool’s Gold Loaf at the Colorado Mine Company near Denver.
It was enormous.
A whole loaf of bread was hollowed out and packed with peanut butter, jelly and roughly a pound of bacon. Elvis loved it.
Then came the part that turned the sandwich into legend.
On February 1, 1976, Elvis was back at Graceland when conversation reportedly turned to the Fool’s Gold Loaf.
He suddenly wanted one.
So Elvis boarded his private jet, the Lisa Marie, with friends and flew from Memphis all the way to Denver.
Elvis Presley’s Cook Makes His Famous Sandwich
Mary Jenkins Langston, Elvis Presley’s longtime Graceland cook, demonstrates his famous fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich in footage from the 1996 documentary The Burger and the King. When Elvis’s plane reached Denver’s Stapleton Airport, restaurant staff brought the sandwiches directly to the aircraft.
Accounts disagree on the exact number. Some say around 22, while others remember fewer or more. What is well documented is that Elvis had flown hundreds of miles specifically because he wanted the sandwich.
Colorado Public Radio later described Elvis and his group eating the huge sandwiches at the airport before flying back to Memphis without even making a normal visit to the city.
It sounds extravagant, but it also reveals something surprisingly ordinary about Elvis.
Despite the private planes, Graceland and worldwide fame, he remained deeply attached to rich Southern comfort food and the familiar tastes he had grown up around.
And few stories capture that better than the night one craving became a flight plan.
Elvis Presley did not send someone to pick up his favorite sandwich. He reportedly fired up the Lisa Marie and flew to Denver to get it himself.