James Blunt has revealed he caught scurvy while at university, after eating nothing but meat. He says vegans annoyed him on campus.

We’ve all made subtle or straight up digs at our friends who choose to adopt a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, hopefully emphasising that while we may not always agree with their choices, we admire their discipline. James Blunt has recalled in Jessie Ware’s podcast Table Manners that while at the University of Bristol in the ’90s, he adopted a carnivorous diet “out of principle.”

The ‘Goodbye My Lover’ singer was a student of aerospace manufacturing, engineering and sociology, with the latter category being the most vegan-friendly. “On the sociology side of things there were 170 girls and only three boys, of which all the girls were vegetarian or vegans,” he said.

Blunt was then rather blunt about not impressing these girls, but shoving it in their face a little.“So out of principle I decided to become a carnivore and just lived on mince, some chicken, maybe some mayonnaise.” The ultimate student diet, basically. Throw some meat together and you have yourself a meal.

Of course, this mega meat diet had consequences. The singer saw a doctor, who was quick to diagnose the lack of vegetables and common sense. “[The doctor] said you are really lacking in vitamin C so I took it upon myself to drink orange juice every night – then I nearly developed acid reflux.” Ostensibly, he must have eaten fruit and vegetables at some point too.

Scurvy is easily treated with a healthy diet of fruit and vegetables, and was historically known as the “sailor’s disease,” as these naval  personnel did not have a Harris Farm Market or fridge onboard. James Blunt getting scurvy to avoid vegans is just as melodramatic as the ‘You’re Beautiful’ song, and I’m glad he is okay. But does this not sound like something only he would do?

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