Buy Walking VideosDenny’s Beer Barrel Pub Challenge
I’ll never forget the scene in the book, Thinner Than Thou, in which the teenager on the road, searching for his anorexic sister eats three huge steak meals. He “wins” the free meals and prize money, which helps them survive until they can find her. Afterward, their friend drives along the Interstate Highway disgusted and amazed at what he saw.
- Snopes.com – Big Burger by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
- Boston.com – Eatery offers 6-pound burger challenge
- Yahoo News – 100-Pound Woman Downs Six-Pound Burger
Once again, I am amazed and disgusted by real life. It’s all over the news, the six-pound Ye Old 96er has been conquered by a 100-pound woman. She ate the whole thing in less than three hours. I feel like I should say something about it, but I’m sitting at the keyboard, numb.
I know I could have done it. When I was at my top weight, I regularly ate huge meals without pain or even thought. They seemed like normal meals to me. Now, I look at that burger and wonder if I could finish a quarter of it. If cut into fourths, that would still be a 1.5 pound burger. I don’t know if I could finish even that much now.
This whole thing just leaves me bewildered. What’s so great about eating a huge hamburger? Why is this considered something worthy of a t-shirt, prizes and a free meal? Why am I so morbidly fascinated by it?
Part of me wants to try it. I want to go to that pub in Pennsylvania and try to eat the burger. Just looking at it makes me hungry. I have been eating healthy for months and I still crave greasy and unhealthy food. They say your tastes change, but part of me wants to tackle that burger, or at least share it with three of my closest friends.
Part of me is disgusted by it. I had a hamburger last week and I was sick for the rest of the day. Sick and disappointed because I had spent so much of my daily allowance on one meal. I ate healthy the rest of the day and it’s possible to eat a burger every once and awhile without hurting my health. I’m no worse for the wear, but part of me looks at that burger and wonders in amazement at anyone stupid enough to eat the whole thing.
Part of me says, “Gimme!†and another part of me says, “Why?†I hate it when I think two mutually exclusive thoughts at the same time. It’s called cognitive dissonance and it means that I’m in the process of learning something. I guess I’m learning that bingeing on large quantities of food is detrimental to my health and maybe even disgusting.
There is a part of me, however, that is still desperately clinging to the actions of the past. I can hear it whispering to me, “I could eat that. It might take me more than three hours, but I could eat that whole thing in a day.†It looks at the pictures and says, “Look at all that cheese melted on top.†It lies to me, “It has been SO LONG since I’ve had a hamburger.†I vividly remember the taste of the burger from last Sunday “repeating†on me, yet I almost believe the lies. A day afterward, my stomach still groaned at the high fat, yet I can hear the voice, trying to tempt me.
When? When will I be fully free of it? When will I only crave healthy food and look upon monstrosities like a six-pound burger as they truly are? Maybe I will always be tempted by large quantities of fatty food and I will never be free.
I remember a scene from the movie, The Sure Thing, where John Cusack offers his cheese krispies to the very strange couple in the car, driving to California. The couple sang show tunes. They were appalled at Daphne Zuniga’s breasts. They were disgusted by the cheese krispies and beer breakfast. Something about me doesn’t want to be like that nerdy couple. I don’t want to be the kind of person that turns her nose up at food, even when it hurts my stomach.
It’s completely illogical, yet that’s how I feel. For some reason, I don’t want to be the kind of person who looks at a burger and says, “That’s disgusting!†Even if it’s a six-pound burger meant to be consumed in three hours. I guess noticing the problem is the first step, so here it is. I’m an illogical human who can believe two contradictory things at once.
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April 29th, 2005 at 8:22 pm
Just go eat one! WTF? You sound so miserable, is that how you want to live your life? That’s not living. Look, one thing is for sure, you WILL die of something. Do you want to be the stiff that everyone looks over and says: “Gee, she was good-looking, but sooo unhappy.” Or do you want to have them say: “Gee, she lived life to the fullest”?
You don’t have to eat one every damn day. But don’t deny yourself the experiences of life, or you’ll end up a shell of a person.
May 5th, 2005 at 12:46 pm
6lb burger for free is typical of everything that is wrong with the US these days. When you consider the massive obesity issues here in the US, plus the starvation in other countries, you migh begin to see why this unneccessary, unhealthy, and uncool.
May 6th, 2005 at 9:25 am
tom’s right, why eat a six pound burger when people in other countries are starving? oh wait….because we can! Recommend starting with one of the three-pounders which denny’s beer barrel pub offers. everything in moderation…that’s my motto.
May 12th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
You don’t have to eat one every damn day. But don’t deny yourself the experiences of life, or you’ll end up a shell of a person
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August 19th, 2006 at 11:59 am
WE were there in 2004 and enjoyed every bite full, 4 adults and only down half of the 6# burger was ate but, it was an experience of a life time. Something we will remember the rest of my life and we took pictures while we were there. Go ahead and enjoy your life here on Earth. I know they don’t serve meat in Heaven! So live it up and eat some beef for a change and don’t for get to stop and smell the roses on the way.
September 23rd, 2006 at 7:24 am
I agree with this:”Just go eat one! WTF? You sound so miserable, is that how you want to live your life? That’s not living. Look, one thing is for sure, you WILL die of something. Do you want to be the stiff that everyone looks over and says: “Gee, she was good-looking, but sooo unhappy.†Or do you want to have them say: “Gee, she lived life to the fullestâ€?
You don’t have to eat one every damn day. But don’t deny yourself the experiences of life, or you’ll end up a shell of a person.” Live a Healthy life so you will have quality of life..But anything in extreme is not good..cross the line once in a while.
Spoken from a very WISE person….Enjoy yourself for gods sake…
March 28th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I just got through eating a Denny’s bacon cheese burger and I wish to God I could throw up. It was utterly disgusting. I had a strawberry milkshake too and I really couldn’t figure out what it tasted like. I sure wasn’t strawberries. Oh and that large hamburger in the photo looks like a pile of crap.
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:58 am
I will be venturing to Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub this Sunday, May 4th with 3 other friends to tackle the 15 lb burger. It’s a 4 hour drive, (and I even live in PA), but I think it will be worth it. I tend to stay away from food such as this and try to eat healthy myself. My daily diet consists of granola bars, yogurt and Vitamin Water. However, that being said, why NOT attempt a feat such as this. You only live life once. I’m still convinced that the 4 of us will not finish the 15 lb’r.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:07 am
Oh, boo hoo, the free six pound burger is what’s wrong with America these days, waaah! Got news for ya, Skippy, it’s called freedom. Now I know that the Eurotrash and ultra-Leftist communist and socialist types really feel they know better than anyone else how to live life and therefore want to control every step and aspect of other people’s activities, but they’re also the first to blame others for their own problems. Tell ya what – shut down the lawsuits and make people responsible for their own mistakes before you start trying to tell others how to live or “what’s wrong with the US.” If you’re not trying to redistribute the wealth, you don’t have to worry about folks abusing the system, now do ya? Now, as for eating at Denny’s and being disgusted? That’s your own fault. Don’t go to a cathouse and come out complaining you didn’t feel loved, if ya know what I mean? Oh, and if they don’t serve meat in Heaven – I ain’t goin. (Not much chance of that anyway, I suppose …)