 Well, it's actually true. In the 19th century and even in the 20th, Kafka even wrote a piece about it called The Hunger Artist, which is quite a wonderful story. But there were people who would go to fairground spots and would be placed in an enclosure where they could be watched by someone at all hours of the day or night and not eat. The difference is that these are people who were able to do this for 20 or 30 days, perhaps during the run of a fair.