Why did the American humorist have such a big problem with tuna fish? The answer is quite simple: fear. He was afraid of it. He was thirty-eight years old and afraid of tuna fish. It's that simple. The reason for the fear was mercury.
When they discovered a few years ago that there was more mercury in tuna fish than normal, he stopped eating it because he was afraid it would accumulate in his brain and affect his thinking which would lead to an effect on his writing.
He thought his writing would get strange and nobody would buy his books because they had been corrupted by mercury and he would go crazy if he ate tuna fish, so he stopped eating it.
His decision to give up eating tuna fish sandwiches had been one of the most difficult and traumatic decisions that he had ever made. It still caused him to have bad dreams.
- from Sombrero Fallout / Richard Brautigan [1976]
