Ringo Starr Follows A Strict Rule For His Favorite 2-Ingredient Cheese Sandwich

The Beatles walked through Strawberry Fields, hung out with Sgt Pepper, and even came together to shoot Coca-Cola, whatever that means. But they never did sing about drummer Ringo Starr's favorite sandwich. It's a simple bread-and-cheese, with one strict rule: The sandwich can only be made using cheese from goat's milk. 

The drummer appeared on a segment of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in 2021 called "The Colbert Questionert," where the interviewer asked his celebrity guests a series of light-hearted questions. His first to Starr is about the Beatles drummer's favorite sandwich. "Cheese," Starr says, as ever, without missing a beat. "I love cheese." Just as Colbert's about to move on to the next question, Starr jumps in with: "Of course it has to be goat's cheese now." This triggers a hilarious little exchange.

"Why does it have to be goat's cheese?" Colbert asks. "Because I don't eat anything from the cow," Starr responds. "Because the cows did something to you?" Colbert counters. "Because the molecules are so big," Starr says with a straight face. "That's why if you drink a glass of [cow's] milk, you're full. But a goat is a good size for our bodies." While it's easy to brush this off as Starr day tripping, we suspect he was referencing the fact that fat globules in goat's milk are smaller than those in cow's milk. In fact, quite often, people with lactose sensitivities find it easier to digest goat cheese.

While it might seem like Starr's choice narrows down his sandwich options to unenviable levels, there's a wide variety of goat cheese available on the market today. The Netherlands and France are known for making high-quality, premium goat cheese, as are the Mediterranean regions, including Spain and Greece. The most popular is fresh goat cheese, which has a soft, creamy texture and a slightly tangy taste. The best versions of fresh goat cheese are light and bright. Topped on a slice of toast, it makes for a great guilt-free snack.

There's so much more to goat cheese than that, though. You also get soft and creamy rind goat cheeses, very similar to Brie, made from cow's milk. Goat cheese from the Loire Valley in France could appeal to those palates that love a bit of funk when it comes to their cheese. And while they're rare and difficult to find, there are a few stinky washed rind cheeses made from goat milk, as well as aged cheese wheels. Want more? Here's a list of eight kinds of goat cheese and how to use them.

Starr has a lot of options when it comes to deciding what cheese to use in his sandwich. But there is one big drawback. Goat cheese does not melt or stretch when heated, so he'll never know the gooey goodness of the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich at the end of a hard day's night.

The grilled cheese FOMO isn't something that would bother Starr too much, given his food choices have been severely restricted anyway. In a 2025 interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," he revealed he had never eaten a pizza or a curry. "I'm allergic to several items. With pizza, you don't know what they're putting in it half the time," he said. The fact that he appeared in a Pizza Hut commercial in 1995 makes absolutely no sense. 

In an interview with BBC, fellow Beatle Paul McCartney's daughter, Mary, revealed Starr was "famously allergic to onions and garlic," while Starr himself reportedly told Rolling Stone magazine he was a vegetarian. "I have broccoli with everything and blueberries every morning. I just do stuff that I feel is good for me."

Starr's long-time drum tech, Jeffrey Chonis, said the drummer's discipline was inspiring. "He's consistently in the gym. He's a vegan, eats all organic, and doesn't eat a lot, just a little bit of nutritious food to keep him going," Chonis told Pollstar in 2023. While he might have been healthy and disciplined, the "vegan" claim can safely be dismissed, considering Starr's goat cheese sandwich obsession.