12 Egg Omelet - Biggest in California?

The picture speaks for itself. There's a lot of egg there. Lots of chili, cheese, onions, mushrooms, potatoes, and biscuit too. Anyone who watches Man V Food will recognize this as the "Ironman Challenge" from the Broken Yolk Café. They take their food challenge very seriously over there.

How seriously? They keep a "Wall of Fame" for winners in the dining area, and a "Wall of Shame" for losers near the bathrooms. The location of the "Shame" wall is fitting, because more than a few of them have probably ended up in the bathroom before leaving the establishment entirely. Take a look:

That's the infamous Wall of Shame. Some got a lot closer than others. I feel for people who attempt food challenges and can't complete them. It's like climbing a mountain and stumbling right as you reach the peak. I've stumbled more than a few times myself.

And here's the happier, hallowed "Wall of Fame." This is the one you want to be on. Diners get to see this one as they peruse the menu and decide what they want to eat. Molly Schuyler is featured prominently, because she is a world-class eater who can demolish one of the challenge platters in mere minutes. She holds the restaurant's time record (across all locations, if I'm not wrong) and is the only person to eat two - TWO - in one sitting.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention which location I visited. I was in Bakersfield, on my way up north to visit the Fresno Zoo and tackle a couple of giant burritos in central California. It was a warm December morning. The staff was incredibly friendly and cordial. The manager was accommodating, even helping me relocate to a table that would allow for better lighting and filming.

I'm proud of this video. The production was fun, my DSLR camera got some decent close-up shots, and I was able to put together something that is a step above most of my work. If you aren't too worried about the number of eggs, go ahead and check it out!

A Cheesy Introduction

The real question is: would you eat that?

Broken Yolk Cafe

thebrokenyolkcafe.com

3300 Buena Vista Rd, Bakersfield, CA 93311

(661) 695-9655

Jack in the Box Tacos - Why Are They So Popular?

When the Wall Street Journal talks to you about tacos, you know you've done something right. At least it feels that way, 7 or 8 years deep into my competitive eating shenanigans. Back in 2008, when it all began, I never pictured myself being a subject of newspaper or magazine interviews. Apparently, eating large quantities of fast food makes your opinion relevant to things.

So, a couple weeks ago, I received a kind email asking for information relating to my experience of eating 50 Jack in the Box tacos. It's not the kind of thing people ask me about everyday. The main story was about Jack in the Box tacos - why are they so popular? And, as any internet search will show you, I was foolhardy enough to try to eat 9+ pounds worth of the stuff. Clearly, I held some opinion about WHY I'd want to eat so many of Jack's tacos.

I'll leave it to you to check out the article. It's a well-written, thoughtful read about popularity that has me wondering how long it's been since my last taco. On that note, I think I'm heading down to Jack's to sample another one (or two) of his greasy, crunchy, delicious tacos.

... And I'm not even hungover.

World's Hottest Candy?

There are no words to describe the pain and suffering these little candies unleashed in me. I'm glad the camera worked the first time - because there's no way I'm doing all that again.

The candies are the brainchild of The Pepper Boy, a company that specializes in unique superhot treats. Why anyone would really want to eat candies made with the hottest peppers in the world is actually beyond me.

They came in 3 flavors corresponding to 3 levels to heat. Strawberry anise was tamest, wintergreen tangerine was bearable, and mango was hellfire.

I'll leave it to you to check out the video and the company's website. I need to recover.

Donuts and Coffee - Boiled Together?

Sometimes the weirdest ideas fire us up. Often these ideas pop up in times of hunger or boredom. I think my weird ideas pop up because I'm really interested in how weird my food can get.

Case in point: I've boiled bananas in Sprite. It's a weird combo because consuming the two together will supposedly cause all kinds of stomach discomfort. The internet is full of guys and girls taking the "Sprite and Banana Challenge" and puking horribly afterward. If you're interested, you can see that video here:

But back to the case at hand. Donuts and coffee go together naturally. Like fingers on the same hand, you know? So I figured that boiling donuts in coffee would create a frothy, creamy drink that would be damn sweet. It would also pack that familiar morning caffeine punch.

Well, things don't always run as smoothly as you'd expect. It was an interesting experiment in food science. Anyone who considers themselves a food warrior would do well to check it out.

If you have any suggestions for future weird food mixes, let me know! I'm game for pretty much anything. Sometimes I'm game for everything.

Big Candy - Here to Stay?

Over the past few years, there has definitely been a trend of giant candy bars. They seem to roll out at Christmas and a couple other major holidays. Consumers tend to be suckers then.

Reese's makes giant peanut butter cups. York has giant peppermint patties. Snickers makes an epic 1 lb chocolate bar. Heck, Hershey's rolls out their classic candy bar in both 1 and 5 lb sizes.

And, if you're lucky, you'll find a 1 lb peanut butter and chocolate rabbit at Easter. The companies have figured out they can get away with selling them at $10 a pop, which is a bit overpriced if you compare it to buying the same volume of candy in smaller increments.

I get it - it's a novelty. Who wouldn't be impressed or disturbed at the sight of a half-pound peanut butter cup? But that's where the ploy runs its course... oversizing these candies tends to ruin the consistency of the candy and the ratio of the parts that make up the candy itself. Giant Snickers have too much nougat and the epic PB cups have too much damn peanut butter.

Don't get me wrong... I'm as happy to buy them and eat them as the next consumer. I guess it's a little food for thought as we head into the holidays. Merry Christmas and Season's Eatings!

20 Burger Beatdown - Remembering a Big Accidental Day

Some things happen with no planning whatsoever. That's the case when it came to my 20 hamburger challenge, which is currently one of my most popular YouTube videos.

I was bored one night... it was summer of 2014, and I needed something to do. A schoolteacher in the summer is a bit like a car without a driver, so for some reason I thought it would be cool to film a food challenge at 11PM.

The rest, as they say, is history. I had no plans to make a speed challenge out of it and mostly ate the burgers in a manner that mocked the way competitive eaters look when they try to eat quickly. I wonder if anyone got the joke.

I didn't even bother with a joke when I did the McDonald's family pack solo. Right in the video, I tell you that I'm going to eat this thing leisurely. Not sure if that was the best approach. The last few bites were a bit agonizing. You gotta see for yourself though :)

At least I actually planned on eating the family pack. The burgers were just plain crazy.

Cheetos and Takis Challenge? You Game?

I don't understand the craze behind the Cheetos and Takis Challenge. It was invented a couple summers back, when school districts in LA tried to ban the salted snacks. Seemed like a great way to capitalize on a current event. Make a forbidden food item into YouTube eating challenge.

But then something weird happened... the trend caught on like fire. So much so that variants of the challenge have come online. The original challenge was for a 2-person duo to eat a large bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos with a large bag of Takis Fuego. It was only about 1.5 lbs of food. The challenge came from the nature of the crunch that made eating large amounts of salted snacks difficult. The salt also makes it uncomfortable, as the dust coating the chips would line your teeth and irritate your lips and tongue. It's pain at its junk food finest.

So yeah, my mouth hurt a lot after taking on the Cheetos and Takis Challenge. It's probably not something anyone should ever attempt. I'm so dumb I tried it twice... at least the third time was a lot less painful.

Less painful maybe, but stupider considering I did it in a banana suit. Is there any smart way to pull off the banana costume?

So, have you taken on the Cheetos and Takis Challenge? Did you survive and how did you feel about your life decisions after?

Big Food Favorites on YouTube - Part One

For no reason at all, here's a run through of 5 favorite old videos I've done. Have you seen them all?

 

Hershey’s Ultimate Chocolate Lovers Challenge - I tried to eat 15 chocolates while lying down. Smart? You decide?

Jay Leno Challenge - I tried to complete the Fatburger Triple Kingburger Challenge faster than Jay Leno, who apparently did it in five minutes flat.

 

McDonalds 20 Hamburger Challenge- so I spent one night trying to eat 20 normal hamburgers. But don't tell me you didn't try to do the same thing at least once in your life!

Cinco de Mayo Challenge - I try to eat 5 jars of mayonnaise, which is just plain idiocy.
 

 



And finally, there was the Burger King Menu Eaten in 3 Minutes... I mean, the Dollar Menu Eaten in 3 minutes. I'm proud of this one.

 

 

I'm proud of all of my video work, but this just really tickled my fancy - looking back. Hope you enjoy em! Stay in School, Don't Do Drugs, and Eat Like a Freak!

Food Review Channel - Naader Eats!

Just a quick announcement, that I've started a new youtube channel dedicated purely to food reviews and restaurant reviews. My main channel, FreakEating, will carry on purely with food challenge videos at this point.

The split was awhile in coming. It followed a lot of comments by the viewers, who either wanted to see a division or who thought that review type videos didn't really belong on FreakEating. It's a good philosophical argument. It finally won me over.

For your viewing pleasure, here's the first video on my new channel. A review of the new Ghost Pepper Wings at Popeye's Chicken. Count on me to add more hot sauce to make the experience better. I'd definitely appreciate anyone who wants to see these videos to tune in and subscribe.

There will be more reviews soon. My goal is to have a video up every Wednesday evening. FreakEating will have a challenge video every Saturday night. Talk to you all later!

Happy New Year - 2015 Here We Come!

Happy New Year! 2014 was a memorable time. There's so much I could reflect upon, but I will focus on 3 things.

1) I didn't really live up to last year's goal of losing 10 lbs. That bothers me. Not as much as it should, but it bothers me. I suppose my new goal for 2015 should be to lose 20 lbs. We will see how well that works out.

2) With every passing year, I'm feeling more in my element as a high school teacher. This is a really good feeling. It's been seven years, so thankfully something is going right. I'd like to thank my students for helping me get better as the months and years go on. I couldn't do it without you guys and girls. Literally - they'd fire me if I didn't have students.

3) I need to enter more eating contests in 2015. That's not really a reflection, more so a statement. I didn't win a single contest in 2014. Sadly, I didn't enter many, so that makes this conclusion even more dire. Completed dozens of challenges, made some cool videos, like the ones linked in this post, but didn't win any contests. That's something to work on next year.

No new video for the new year - I'm afraid the ones I did the last two years will have to do for now. There's only so much one body can take in a week. The trip to Nashville was fun, but alas it was time to come home. More on that in the next post. Until then, have a safe new year and don't eat anything I wouldn't eat. 

Eating Through Nashville

December 2014 will witness personal history for me - it is the first time I'll be visiting the state of Tennessee. Really, it's my first journey to any of the Southern states. It's an opportunity that doesn't come around often. It all came together when All Pro Eating invited me to participate in the second annual hot chicken eating championship that coincides with the Music City Bowl.

In case you're wondering, the Music City Bowl (December 29) is a football game. It isn't a music festival, or a bowling league. So, now I feel really culturally challenged.. that's why Google was invented I suppose. I owe a few of my coworkers an apology and a really long explanation. Hopefully a few pictures of what I'm eating will distract them from their confusion. It's all about the food, isn't it?

Apparently hot chicken is a thing in Nashville. I enjoy spicy foods, and I love chicken, so this eating championship should be good fare for me. It's an 8 minute event so in all likelihood it will be over before I have a chance to really feel like a stuck pig. The previous champion is Molly Schuyler, All Pro Eating's #1 ranked eater, and she will be there to defend the title. We're also expecting Dave Brunelli, Stephanie Torres, and Michael Deitz to compete.

With all the impressive competition, I have something to hold up for myself. All Pro Eating lists me as their eating challenge expert, the man who happily goes anywhere and everywhere to eat crazy things, spicy things, and anything a restaurant will offer as a dare. I should fit right in with hot chicken. The league actually provides me with some impressive billing on the event sheet:

That's a mouthful. "Expert Food Challenger," "spicy food specialist," "could put down some impressive amounts." It sounds like I have my work cut out for me.

They also mention a lot of the same on the league's website:

Well... at least if I have a bad day I can always go home and eat a potted cactus.

Secret Santa For Competitive Eaters, 2014 Style

Secret Santa is a game where a mysterious benefactor gives you a gift to commemorate Christmas. I suppose you can play the game anytime, since Santa is losing his sectarian spirit. Sorta. But when competitive eaters play it, you know there's gonna be a twist.

The competitive eating community on YouTube has played a mass Secret Santa game for two years running. The brainchild of Tracy Goode, a frequent competitor on the Major League Eating circuit, the game allows a wide array of eaters to gift each other with ridiculous (secret) parcels of food that must be revealed and consumed on camera. The mystery element makes this project a winner. 

Of course, not all participants have a mean streak in them. Some players choose to send nice things, such as boxes of chocolate and jars of Nutella. A few eaters will receive truly nasty nuggets of noxious nefariousness, but that's all in good fun. And the winner is you, the viewer, who gets to see the stunned reaction of the person trying to eat the weird food at hand. 

Molly Schuyler, All Pro Eating's #1 ranked eater, played the game this year. Though she holds world records in speed eating normal foods, the weird side of the aisle is not something she typically relishes. She does relish the fact that Secret Santa exposes eaters to things they wouldn't normally try. At least, that's the gist of what I got from an off-hand comment. And I totally agree. 

For me, this year's Secret Santa game offered a moment of sweet revenge. I sent "Cardboard" Shell two bottles of tamarind syrup. Seems like a good offering after the 24 century eggs she sent me last year. And again, the winner is you - the viewer. Disgusting eating makes for wonderful viewing. Just ask the boys over at Wreckless Eating, who've practically made a living off puking on camera. 

If you want to see what this year's smackdown was all about, feel free to check out the YouTube playlist here: Competitive Eater Secret Santa 2014 Collab Playlist!  (for those who don't know, a collab is short for collaboration. In Youtube lingo, it means that several people with YouTube accounts all worked together on a similar project to help gather traction for all their channels) 

And if you're a written list kinda guy or girl, the full list of names and respective videos is found here, posted in the order I received the links.

Naader "Freak8r" Reda: 

Wayne Algenio:

Deadly Sins:

Chuck From the Bronx: 

Matt Cohen: 

Cardboard Shell: 

Frohungry:

Badlands Booker: 

Yo You Hungry: 

Juan Rodriguez: 

Andrew The Bear:

Jon Bello: 

Stephanie Torres: 

Miki Sudo: 

Molly Schuyler:  

Whew, that was a lot of typing. Remind me never to do anything like that again. Another winner in this project was the US Postal Service, who had the professional pleasure of delivering all of our wonderful crates of cuisine. 

I know one thing for sure - I'm playing the game again next year. You'd better come and watch :)