Egon Ronay was a famous British food critic who transformed the standard of food available in British restaurants and through public catering, improving them enormously.

Ronay’s restaurant guide “Egon Ronay’s Guide to British Eateries,” was said to either make or break a restaurant’s reputation and to launch the careers of famous chefs, according to The New York Times.

In 1993, Mr. Ronay took out an insurance policy on his taste buds.

His taste buds were insured for $400,000 through the Lloyds of London. The policy covered his sense of taste and guaranteed payment if he lost it.

“Sculptors earn their money with their hands, chorus girls with their legs, and perfume blenders with their sense of smell,” Mr. Ronay said. “These are their tools; mine is my palate.”

Picture credit: Lewis Whyld/PA Archive/Press Association Ima

Egon Ronay conducting a blind taste test of supermarket champagnes in 2006.