A WA restaurant is dishing up a “Fatboy” burger loaded with *1.3kg of mince meat patties, while its “world’s hottest” chilli burger has hospitalised two diners.
They are among a raft of killer food challenges being promoted at WA restaurants, sparking a warning from health professionals.
One man nearly choked while eating a giant steak at Outback Jack’s in Fremantle. And at least two men were taken to hospital with internal burns after eating a hamburger garnished with the world’s hottest chilli pepper, the bhut jolokia an Indian chilli more than 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce.
The Red Face and Runny Nose burger is on the menu at Novembar’s Burgers in Dianella, where the $30 bill is waived if the diner eats the lot in less than 10 minutes and is able to pass an egg from one bowl to another using chopsticks.
Owner Minh Vinh, who said only 15 of 135 challengers since 2009 had finished it, said he added the popular Man vs Fatboy burger challenge three months ago, using 1.3kg of minced beef in seven meat patties, making it seven times the size of a normal burger. He advertises this whopper with the slogan “the faster you eat, the less you pay”.
The record holder, Scott Rumbolt, finished his in six minutes and 37 seconds. The longest diner took just over an hour.
Perth dietitian Denise Griffiths said she found the gorging hard to digest, warning monster munchers were risking heart disease, choking and weight gain.
“That style of eating should not be encouraged and we’re talking about a lot of kilojoules and a lot of salt,” she said.
At Outback Jacks in Fremantle and Rockingham, owner Mick Egan is used to cleaning the tables when diners aiming to finish lkg of rump in half an hour can’t hold their meat down.
The meal comes with 500g of potato wedges and 500g of steamed vegetables.
Full story at Perth Now
For those unfamiliar with metrics, 1.3 kilograms is equal to 2 lbs, 14 oz. That’s a lot of greasy beef. Especially when one is expected to eat ALMOST THREE POUNDS OF GROUND MEAT PLUS CHEESE, BREAD, ONE POUND OF GREASY POTATOES AND MORE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
The riduculous stance taken by Sarah Palin in national and international news sound-bytes to mock Michelle Obama’s attempts to teach young Americans to adopt healthier eating habits is worse than ridiculous – it’s downright dangerous. It encourages harmful marketing ploys like the one in the above article and sends a message to everyone – young, old, middle-aged alike – people in top physical condition, people who are not and those who just want to make a dollar off a goofy idea – that there’s nothing wrong with eating whatever you want, whenever you want. It’s all just good fun.
I am reminded of two incidents that took place more than 15 years ago (but less than 30), the first in Texas: A young man was taken by family and friends to a local pub to celebrate his 21st birthday.
The young man had never had a drop of alcohol. Seriously. His uncle proudly ordered a shot of tequila with a beer chaser for himself and his nephew. He showed the lad how to down the shot and chug the beer and the lad followed suit.
An hour later the young man was dead. Turned out he had a severe allergy to whatever process it is that creates alcohol. The newspaper article I read ended with a saddened realization which I took to be pointed directly at the ‘down home boys’ attitude of Texas men. I remember it as something like: In hindsight, perhaps giving someone who had never had alcohol before a nice glass of wine would have been the smarter and less fatal introduction to booze.
The second incident occured in California. A toddler tried to imitate his older brothers busily engaged in a mock eating contest. No one noticed, in all the commotion that the 5 year old tried to swallow a hot dog whole until it was too late.
I realize that we can’t possibly be responsible for all the stupid things people do in life and of course there are unpreventable accidents. But I do feel that something as visible as political fame should come with a responsibility clause – just like star athletes who sign morality clauses on contracts before they get to spend their $10 million salary.
Words matter. Behaviour matters. Our politicians should be held to a much higher standard than the adolescent I can do whatever I want sound-bytes spewing forth from the Twinkie Queen herself.
Oz Mudflats 