Garfield was born on June 19, 1978, in the kitchen of Mamma Leoni's Italian Restaurant to his mother and his unnamed father, weighing 5 lbs and 6 ounces at birth. Lasagna has been Garfield's favorite food throughout his life, unlike the majority of his family, who were more into mice. The restaurant owner of Mamma Leoni's Italian Restaurant had to choose between keeping Garfield or closing down his restaurant due to a lack of pasta, so Garfield was sold to a pet shop. On the same day.