11 entries, with sources
Kaygetsu·c. 1987-2011
Jobs's strict, unwavering regular sushi order consisting of exactly five pieces of fatty tuna and five pieces of yellowtail. Although he maintained a strict vegan/vegetarian regimen in public life, Japanese raw fish was the major exception he regularly and enthusiastically consumed.
Toshio Sakuma recounted that Jobs ordered this exact plate repeatedly for decades, alongside occasional orders of negi-toro and unagi.
Toshio Sakuma·2004-2011
Jobs's favorite restaurant in Silicon Valley and one of the only places where the notoriously impatient CEO was willing to wait up to 30 minutes for a table at Seat No. 1. He held Apple board dinners here, celebrated major product launches with Jony Ive, threw a 25-person surprise party for Laurene Powell Jobs, and even sent his private chef here to learn Sakuma's techniques.
Detailed in the Japanese biographical book 'Steve Jobs' Chef' by Toshio Sakuma and Nobuyuki Hayashi, which records that Apple's board of directors held their regular dinners there starting in fall 2006 and that Jobs went there after almost every major keynote.
Arnold Ehret·c. 1972
The book that pushed Jobs into his most radical eating habits, convincing him that the body should only intake fruit and starchless vegetables to avoid accumulating toxic mucus. It prompted him to warn college friends about the 'mucus dangers' in bagels and launched his habit of week-long juice and fruit fasts.
Jobs told Walter Isaacson: 'I got into it in my typical nutso way... After a week [fasting] you start to feel fantastic. You get a ton of vitality from not having to digest all this food.'
c. 1972-1976
Jobs lived for weeks at a time consuming almost nothing but carrots and freshly extracted carrot juice, to the point where his skin noticeably turned a distinct reddish-orange hue.
Close friend and early Apple employee Daniel Kottke recalled buying bulk flats of carrots and making juice with a heavy-duty juicer, noting 'There is a story about Steve turning orange from eating so many carrots, and there is some truth to that.'
c. 1991-2011
Jobs's home dining aesthetic mirrored his product philosophy: extreme minimalism and hyper-focus on a single element. Evening meals at the Jobs household often consisted of massive quantities of a single in-season vegetable harvested from their garden.
His sister Mona Simpson noted in her eulogy that family meals frequently consisted of 'just one vegetable. Lots of that one vegetable. But one. Broccoli. In season. Simply prepared. With just the right, recently snipped, herb.'
Roman Meal Company·1972-1973
Jobs's primary dietary staple during his early vegetarian college days in Oregon, purchased in bulk boxes from the local co-op and eaten as a cheap whole-grain source before he adopted Arnold Ehret's anti-grain fruitarian regime.
Daniel Kottke recalled in Walter Isaacson's biography: 'Steve got into it even more than I did. He was living off Roman Meal cereal.'
Sushi Iwa·c. 1990s-2010
Jobs's cherished traditional sushi counter in Kyoto, which he visited during trips to Japan accompanied by his daughter Lisa. He declared it served the finest raw fish he had ever eaten.
Recorded in his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs's memoir 'Small Fry' and documented in Japanese accounts of his regular pilgrimages to Kyoto.
San Francisco Zen Center·c. 1980s-2000s
A landmark San Francisco gourmet vegetarian restaurant overlooking the bay where Jobs held high-stakes personal meetings and dined regularly with Dr. Dean Ornish during his cancer treatment years. He treated its pure vegetable preparation as therapeutic and reportedly once demanded his meal be prepared 'without pans'.
Reported by Cult of Mac via staff accounts from Greens, detailing his frequent dinners with Dr. Dean Ornish and his insistence on unusual, pristine cooking methods.
Jessica Goldman & Pat Galvin·c. 2007-2011
Jobs's neighborhood haunt on Emerson Street in downtown Palo Alto, where he walked to purchase fresh probiotic organic yogurt and handmade soy milk.
Noted in local Palo Alto reports as one of Jobs's regular casual walk-in destinations near his home, though without a direct primary-source quote from Jobs himself.
Odwalla·c. 1980s-2000s
Jobs was said to be a heavy consumer of Odwalla unpasteurized juices, which fit his raw-food ideology, and reportedly admired the simplicity of their twist-off bottle cap design.
Asserted in secondary tech-culture writeups without a direct quote or primary citation confirming the design admiration specifically.
Glaceau·c. 2000s-2011
Jobs was said to favor SmartWater as an everyday drink during keynotes and meetings, though this reflects general bottled-water use rather than a documented personal ritual.
Repeated in secondary press coverage without a specific sourced anecdote or quote tying the brand choice to any personal significance for Jobs.