The Herbivore's Fascination

I have to start this post with a disclaimer: I am a vegetarian. I have not eaten meat for almost five years and I do not plan to do so for many more years. I don't mind if other people eat meat, but I personally find it repulsive. In fact, I occasionally have a reoccurring nightmare in which I am forced to eat hamburgers as punishment for misdeeds. Read into that what you will, but I hate the idea of eating meat so much that I wake up in cold sweats just subconsciously thinking about it.

And so now here is my confession: I am obsessed with the show Man Vs Food. I absolutely love watching a man stuff himself full of meat until he literally cannot put anything else into his body. It is absolutely everything that is wrong with this country wrapped up into one show. And I simply cannot get enough of it.

For those of you who are cable deprived (as I was up until the switch to digital left my house with no signal whatsoever), here's the premise: a guy travels around the country trying to complete the biggest, fattiest, greasiest, most nauseating eating challenges that the fattest country in the world can throw at him. He also showcases some traditional eats from the region, but the main focus is how much food he can eat in one sitting.

So why does a vegetarian waste hours watching close-ups of meat being devoured in mass quantities?

Well, first, it does have to do with the fact that I have developed quite the little crush on the host, Adam Richman. But that was only after I devoured numerous episodes. The suspense of the competition is certainly another draw- especially since he does not win every challenge. But it is also the interest in seeing the limits, the capacity of the human body. Adam does not train as a competitive eater; he is just a regular guy who really digs food. He is the everyman answer to Anthony Bourdain.

The usual and immediate reaction to this kind of gluttony is understandably nausea- both at the food being consumed and what the competitions say about our culture as a whole; however, that is only when the show is not being taken as surface level entertainment. The American population is undeniably eating itself to death, sedentarily bursting out of its seams, and it appears as if this show does nothing but promote such an unhealthy lifestyle. In a sense that is true: a pudgy guy travels around the fattest nation in the world eating as much as he possibly can in order to win a t-shirt. People even cheer him on as he eats.

And yet there is something also critical about the challenges. It's almost as if he is competing in the eating challenges simply to show the audacity of their very existence. He goes into some of them knowing he will not finish the food- already defeated, but ready to put up a fight nonetheless. And so within his vast quantities of chicken wings, oysters, and hamburger patties, one sees not stereotypical American gluttony, but full commitment to expressing a deep criticism of the eating habits of Americans. If you can't beat um, join um- if you will.

Or maybe I just have a much bigger crush on Adam than I thought. Either way- the new season is starting soon so stretch out in the air conditioning and see how many episodes you can ingest before you puke- or get the overwhelming urge to eat heaps of french fries- and let me know if you agree with my critical interpretation of a vegetarian's least likely fascination.