Dracula was a vegetarian.
Dracula could have been a vegetarian
Author Bram Stoker based the legendary blood-guzzling vampire on the real-life military dictator of Romania Vlad III Dracula - who is likely to have had a meat-free diet.
The 15th-century tyrant was known as Vlad the Impaler for his fondness for putting his enemies on wooden stakes.
A team of researchers at Italy's Catania University extracted thousands of protein fragments from the surface of Vlad's letters and did not find any trace of meat.
Gleb Zilberstein - who had a leading role in the study - said: "Food proteins (in the letters) are found only in plant foods. The prototype vampire may have been a vegan."
However, the experts did suggest that Dracula's lack of meat was unlikely to be a matter of choice.
They said: "In the 15th century, Europe had a very cold climate, there was very little food. Aristocrats had a very meagre diet and meat was not often eaten."