This
is a continuation of yesterday's Thursday Diary entry. If you
happened to miss it, you can click HERE to link back to it. You
might be wondering how I plan to tie in my addiction story to a
television program. Well, the answer lies within.
Okay, so welcome to Friday, and
the day after I pretty much admitted to being a complete weakling
when it comes to anything made out of chocolate. It's certainly not
as bad as being addicted to alcohol, lethal drugs, or sniffing
permanent markers, but if I don't get the addiction under control,
it'll eventually kill me. Now that it's out in the open, I feel
better for having confessed it, and now that it's out in the open,
it'll serve as a permanent reminder of the promise I made to myself.
Still, I know that the road to
absolute freedom from any confection with the names Hershey, Reese,
Cadbury, or Mars is going to be a lifelong struggle. I don't think
it's something that I can just go cold turkey on. Occasionally there
are going to be instances in which I have to have peanut butter
M&M's, and there might be instances where I will be at a party
where there's cake...and it would be sort of rude to turn down cake
at a party. For the most part though, I plan to keep my cravings
under control, though it's going to be a challenge. I won't lie to
you.
And, I'm already taking steps
to try and kick my chocolate habit once and for all. Now that I have
an iPod (yes, I have finally joined the 21st century a
dozen years into it), I find that going on a brisk walk is a lot more
fun. It's like I'm exercising with my favourite artists! I'm
purposely only buying vanilla flavoured frozen yogurt whenever I do
have a craving for a sweet treat. Not only is frozen yogurt
healthier, but by buying vanilla, I won't trigger my chocolate
cravings!
(Baby steps here, remember?)
You know, looking back on my
love-hate relationship with food (sweets in particular), I have come
to one conclusion. When I was binge eating on everything that had
any sort of chocolate drizzle on it, I was doing it to feel some sort
of happiness. And, why wouldn't I choose chocolate? Chocolate has
magical healing powers that makes one feel better...for a little
while. I used to laugh off the suggestion that more women would
rather have chocolate than sex. But now that I'm a bit older and a
lot wiser, I can understand why this is the case.
It really wasn't until I grew
older that I started to feel disgusted over my insatiable appetite.
In almost all the times I instinctively grabbed food, I wasn't even
hungry. I ate out of boredom, I ate to relieve stress, and I ate to
ease the emotional pain that I was going through. I still have
memories of being a teenager and finishing off the leftovers from
dinner that the rest of my family couldn't eat because I am the type
of person who didn't like to see food go to waste. It was like I had
become a human garbage disposal out of necessity, and I didn't like
that feeling at all. It wasn't until I was 28 years old that I made
the decision to try and change my habits so that I didn't rely on
food so much to get me through the roughest of days...just four years
ago. This year, I'm turning 32, and I still don't have everything
perfectly balanced yet. But, all in time though.
You know what's funny though?
With the amount of food that I ate as a teenager, it's a wonder that
I didn't attempt any of those eating contests, or get in on the
action to break a Guinness World Record for eating a set amount of
food in the shortest time possible.
You know the contests I mean,
right? A pie eating contest at the county fair, or a pizza eating
contest at a local pizzeria, or the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating
Challenge held each year.
Well, there were at least three
different reasons why I didn't enter those contests. Firstly, there
weren't any contests like that readily available in my hometown at
that time to my knowledge (and if there were, they were usually for
foods that I despised). Secondly, when I was a teenager, I was the
kid who wanted to blend into the background. The last thing I wanted
was to have my name and photo plastered all over the newspaper
indicating that I had eaten the most food. That would have just
given people more ammo, as far as I was concerned!
The main reason why I never
entered an eating contest was simple. I get grossed out by them.
Anyone who has ever seen one of
those eating contests on television or in person knows what I mean.
It's not like the contestants are casually sitting down at a table
with a knife and fork, and are dabbing their faces with a napkin as
they sip a glass of white wine. No, the carnage is absolutely
insane. Those pies and hot dogs get gobbled up in less than a
minute. Some of those contestants swallow them down so quickly, you
wonder if they swallow them whole or if they at least chew it once or
twice.
Forget the fact that I wouldn't
even stand a chance against some of the more competitive participants
in these eating contests. I wouldn't be able to last five minutes
without feeling intense nausea over seeing the person next to me
shovel an entire pizza into their mouths before I was even finished
one slice.
I mean, hey, if you do
competitive eating for a living, more power to you. I just can't do
it.
Now, can you imagine a
television show that put a spin on competitive eating contests?
Imagine a guy going to every pizza place, steakhouse, ice cream
stand, and greasy spoon diner in America, sampling the biggest and
most insane food creations ever made. And, imagine at the end of
every episode, you see this man attempting a variety of food eating
challenges which include everything from sampling the hottest chicken
wings possible to eating a TEN POUND hamburger in a ninety minute
time period. Would you watch?
Well, for nearly four years,
people who had The Travel Channel could have the opportunity to watch
Adam Richman do exactly that. And, the title of this show was the
direct inspiration of the last two blog entries.
Today we're going to be talking
about the show Man vs. Food, which aired on The Travel Channel
from December 3, 2008 until April 11, 2012.
We're going to talking about
what the show is, how it came about, how the host prepared for every
episode and eating challenge, as well as addressing the criticisms
and rumours surrounding its host.
Oh, and at the end of this
entry, I'll be sharing my own thoughts on Man vs. Food, as well as a
little bit of a social commentary.
I had mentioned that the host
of the show was a man named Adam Richman (b. May 16, 1974 in
Brooklyn, New York). Richman is no stranger to food. He has often
described himself as a food fanatic. Since 1995, Richman has kept a
travel journal where he often goes into great detail over all of the
restaurants he visited, what he ordered there, and any life lessons
he learned along the way.
(Well...kind of like I'm doing
with this blog. Only I haven't been doing this nearly as long as
Adam Richman, and this blog is mostly on pop culture. But hey, we
have the life lesson thing down pat!)
The format of Man vs. Food for
the first three seasons was the same. Adam would travel to several
large American cities in search of the most palatable, piquant, or
decadent foods ever created. In many cases, the cities often have
their own signature dishes, and Adam often did a themed special
around this food item. For example, if he were in Philadelphia, he
would do a feature on the Philly Cheesesteak. If he were in New York
City, he may have done a show on New York Style Cheesecake. If he's
hanging around Chicago, you know that a deep dish pizza will be in
the spotlight at some point. And down in the southern states like
Texas or Oklahoma, it's grill city for sure.
For the first segments of the
show, Adam would visit several restaurants, interviewing people about
the local cuisine and how it is made, and then he'd sit down and
sample some of it. Now, I must admit that watching a few episodes of
the show, the opening was really tough to get through. A lot of the
foods that Adam sampled looked really delicious, and my mouth was
watering as he tried them. At some point, I was actually relieved
when they added onions or strawberries or some other food I dislike,
because only then did my cravings end right there on the spot.
(Hmmm...dipping chocolate in
onion powder. That would definitely make it less tempting. Must
remember that for future reference.)
It was only really the last
part of the show that kind of made me wince in pain and shock.
That was the part of the show
in which Adam would take on a food eating challenge where he would do
battle against foods that were either too spicy or incredibly
gigantic to digest. And to add to the pressure, some of the
challenges had a time limit to boot! Whatever was a guy to do?
Eat, of course. You see,
that's where the title comes into play. Will man be able to triumph
over food, or will food cause the man to collapse in pain and cry
uncle?
Believe it or not, each one of
these eating challenges came with a lot of preparation. Richman has
explained in several interviews that when he is on the road, he finds
time to exercise twice a day in order to keep in shape in between
challenges. He'll also fast the day before an eating challenge,
making sure to stay hydrated by drinking a lot of club soda or water.
He also says that he works out on a treadmill for an hour
immediately after taping an episode. Now, you might think that this
would be incredibly uncomfortable after eating an obscene amount of
food, but I'll admit that after Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, I
have to move around for a bit after eating because it's incredibly
uncomfortable if I don't.
And, just what kind of
challenges will Adam take on?
Well, how about eating a
12-inch cheeseburger with twelve beef patties and twelve slices of
cheese? Basically, a heart attack on a plate. If you can stomach
it, you can watch the clip below. But, I wouldn't recommend watching
it on a full stomach. I know I found it hard!
Other challenges that Adam had
to take on were...
- eating a Southwestern Omelette made with an entire dozen of eggs
- eating several chicken wings with each wing hotter than the last one
- eating an ice cream sundae made with two gallons of ice cream
- eating a four pound grilled cheese sandwich
- attempting to break a record with 39 other people in eating a hamburger weighing 190 pounds!
Wow...after reading all that, I
don't think that I want to eat ever again! My stomach feels full and
I'm not even the one eating the food!
The show was praised by some
critics, who loved Adam's passion for food, and the fun aspect of
looking into the world of food eating contests. On the flipside,
there are people who have panned the show, saying that Adam is
setting a terrible example by promoting the sin of gluttony, and that
it sent out the wrong message to people.
Believe it or not, there were
actually rumours circulating around the Internet that Adam Richman's
competitive eating lead to fatal heart attacks, prompting Adam to
lash out at the people spreading the rumour, announcing that he was,
in fact alive. And, as of January 18, 2013, Adam Richman is still
alive.
Although one thing he doesn't
do any more is competitive eating (which likely lead to the
cancellation of Man vs. Food last year). He officially walked away
from the contests effective January 27, 2012, stating that he wished
to move ahead with future projects and bid farewell to his many
followers.
As far as my own thoughts on
Man vs. Food...they are admittedly mixed. On one hand, I can see
where people are coming from about how the show is presented.
Although Adam has stated that he worked hard to maintain his weight
in between food challenges, I can't see how stuffing your face full
of food in a half hour is considered to be healthy for the digestive
system. If I tried to stuff a 12 patty burger in my mouth in twenty
minutes, I would likely be dead...or at the very least in a hospital
bed getting my stomach pumped. I honestly don't remember if they had
a warning prefacing each episode explaining that not everyone should
try these massive eating challenges, but it would have been an asset.
And, I can probably also see people pointing out that it seems a bit
wasteful to gorge on giant sized food items when there are people in
the world who wish they could even have a small morsel of it.
Though, taking on the role of
devil's advocate here, I see where Adam is coming from. He has a
passion for food, and he loves talking about it, showcasing it, and
eating it. And, as someone who has a passion for writing, I can't
fault the guy for showing off his passion. It might not be the most
brilliant way of doing it, but again, I can't fault him for it. It's
not like he had to do the challenges because he was feeling poorly
about himself and felt like he HAD to eat to feel happy. He was
happy doing the challenges because it was his passion, and even when
he failed at the various challenges, he still had a smile on his face
knowing that he gave it all he had.
And, hey, on a positive,
whenever I did watch an episode of Man vs. Food, it killed my
appetite...so maybe what I need to do whenever I get a craving for
chocolate is watch a marathon of those eating challenges before I go
out with my iPod around town.
It can't hurt, right?
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