Andrew Garfield recalls 'brutal' school lunch trauma that still affects what he eats

Andrew Garfield recalled an embarassing school experience that left him unable to eat loose sweetcorn.

During a recent appearance on the Dish podcast with Nick Grimshaw and chef Angela Hartnett, the 43-year-old actor shared he was once force-fed school food by a teacher and ended up vomiting on them. He also used to hide in the toilets to avoid eating his primary school lunches.

He explained, “It’s a pure, like visceral association with I think... like I vomited on a teacher. Who force-fed me some of these things one day at school. I would hide in the toilet to not have to eat my primary school lunches. 

"It was brutal.”

Garfield said the experience still affects what he eats today, despite loving corn on the cob.

He added, “School dinners have f***** everyone up to a certain degree I think. Yeah... .

“So, I can’t have corn off the cob. On the cob is one thing. On the cob is actually one of my favourite things. With a lot of butter. Off the cob, I can’t do it.”

He remarked the experience as a form of torture, saying, “It’s like a version of waterboarding but with like mashed potato and loose sweetcorn.”

Elsewhere during the podcast, Garfield also discussed his upcoming film The Uprising, set during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

Garfield is also making headlines for for playing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial.

He revealed in an interview with Variety that he spent “two to three months” watching and listening to footage of Altman while preparing for the role.

Artificial is all set for a limited U.S. theatrical release on December 25, 2026, and will expand to a wider release in January 2027.