It was in the business section titled “Kidz Breakfast: Giant breakfast boosts cafe’s business”, I must say I was intrigued. It appears a café in Great Yarmouth has come up with a promotional idea, if you can eat their mega-breakfast you get it for free, or you pay £15 if you can’t. It’s called “Kidz” because the meal weighs the same as a baby…

This is no new trick in the promotion of a restaurant, but the staff at this establishment have been watching way too much Man vs Food. The breakfast in question is a whopping 9lb of your morning favourites! It could feed a family of four…a very hungry family of four. Only one man in history has managed to eat the entire grease-feast unaided – Mr Robert Pinto (great name!), a competitive eater from Lincolnshire. . .Yes he ate all 6000+ calories worth. Want to know what all that looks like? OK deep breath:

• 12 Bacon rashers
• 12 Sausages
• 4 Slices of black pudding
• 6 Eggs
• 4 Slices of bread plain
• 4 Slices of toast
• 4 Slices of fried bread
• 2 Hash browns
• A potato and cheese omelette made with 8 eggs
• Fried potatoes
• Baked beans
• Mushrooms
• Tomatoes

Are you feeling hungry now?

It seemed like it was one of those “funny” news items, you know those items at the end of the news to raise a smile and give us all a break from all the depressing things that are happening in the world. Curiously as I read further on there was a quote from Professor David Haslam from the National Obesity Forum calling for the dish to be banned…

Have we really lost our sense of fun and frivolity in this country? The meal in question is so ridiculously enormous as to be laughable, and is so obviously a tongue-in-cheek promotion for a small café trying to make a living in these times of austerity. And this type of promotion has been done for years. Does anyone remember the Fatty Arbuckle’s challenge, three huge courses and many thousands of calories? Does Fatty still do it? It was one of the most famous food challenges when I was growing up…

Now I do understand that obesity is a big problem, and a big killer in this and many other countries, but to be honest if somebody had the will to eat that much without prompting they could order four large breakfasts for themselves.

So why call for a ban?

Is it because someone managed to finally eat it? Mr Pinto (still a great name!) is a competitive eater, and people all over the world try to out-eat each other in international competitions, it’s now so popular that it’s become successful TV entertainment, as per the aforementioned Man vs Food. Yes I’m sure there are some potential risks in pursuing this activity but I’m sure there are some potential risks when skydiving, but I’ve never heard anyone asking for skydiving to be banned.

Something I do agree on is that the public should be educated about how to achieve a good healthy balanced diet for themselves and their families, but if someone wants to eat enough greasy breakfast to sink a battleship then surely it’s their choice?

Reading between the lines the article was pushing for the banning comment to provoke a reaction. As it appears the reporter contacted the National Obesity Forum for a comment, the press demonising this innocent story of one man and his breakfast.

I am not advocating gluttony or over-eating, nor would I ever say anything against the good work that the National Obesity Forum do. Simply, in my view this was a fun story about a crazy meal-deal in a small town that was used to make a point against people’s freedom to eat, drink and more importantly have fun!

Do you think such challenges are right or wrong? Have you ever tried an eating challenge, if so how did you do?

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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