Sunday, February 7, 2010

Pigging Out


Can anyone out there justify eating contests, please?

What's this fascination with how much food one can shovel into one's gaping trap in one sitting? What actually is achieved in a competition that promotes pigging out?

Each time I read about such contest, I get all riled up. What's the big deal about a person who can wolf down 20 burgers at one go compared to my maximum (on extremely rare occasions) two? Is he to be hailed for such a 'heroic' deed?

An eating contest, much like the very American favourite pastime of pie-throwing contest, is a regrettable event and those who lend support to it by participating are, by my reckoning, a disgraceful lot.

By the way, have you ever seen an eating contest in action? During my years as a reporter, I had covered a few. One look at participants greedily ploughing through the chow, and the sty came to mind, if you catch my drift.

Like it or not, such contests reek of hedonistic decadence. It is shameful and an unnecessary waste of good food that could otherwise be put to better use, like feeding the truly hungry.

Recently, a supplier of fine meats to upmarket food outlets in Klang Valley organised one such contest to see who could consume the most beef (in the form of steak) in 40 minutes.

The challenge, held in Kelana Jaya, Selangor, was taken up by 24 participants and the winner managed to tuck in 1.31kg, besting his closest rival by 40gm. The total amount of beef consumed during the event was 35kg.

That, in a nutshell, translates into 35kg of premium barbecued steak hurriedly shoved down the gullets of 22 men and two women, for no specific reason except entertainment.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) reminded us to partake our food slowly, carefully and with decorum, and to cease eating, not when we are satiated but when we are just about full.

In Cambodia, the poverty-stricken Muslim community eat beef only once a year, that too courtesy of Malaysian well-wishers who usually donate money for the purchase of cows to be slaughtered (qurban) in celebration of the Muslim religious festival of Eid Adha.

A friend of Pak Abu has been managing this collection and purchase for years as his amal jariah. We did our part by contributing our qurban portion; that was the least we could do to support his commendable efforts to bring some cheer to our unfortunate Cambodian brethren.

In the meantime, here in good old Malaysia we have this disgusting pursuit to see who could best emulate Porky....

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The same can be said for the dumb activities which clamour for fame in the Malaysia book of records...longest lemang, longest ketupat etc.etc.

Pat said...

I know what you're saying. Just the other day I watched this guy (from the US or A) on tv talk about making hot-dog eating an Olympic event!

How sad that an animal died so that it can be shoveled down someone's throat without being tasted or enjoyed. And that he needs to keep sipping water so that he doesn't gag or throw up - or he'd be disqualified. Sick.

We are so sad lah. People in the world have no food; and those who have plenty do this.

mamasita said...

Whoever who suggested this sort of contest must be a real bodohhead!
Ada pulak suruh contestants makan macam pig??
No respect for humans! Was it also for the ensuing laughter??
Crazy idiotic organisers!

D said...

Malaysia boleh?

*sigh* If only we'd move away from entertainment!

Anonymous said...

Tu lah kate oghang "MUTOH KEDAROH'

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Hi Puteri,

My pet hate r ppl that pile their plates with mountains of food at 'All u can eat' or Smorgasbord joint.I don't mind ppl that go for seconds or thirds for that matter so long as they clean up their plates, and be tactful enough to leave some for others.

I like to enjoy my food, slow & steady, chewed 36x, let the flavour caress my taste buds..hehehe, no rush rush punya, same as when having....wink2. I'm a gourmet not a glutton mah.

Cheers,
Tommy

Tommy Yewfigure said...

P/S - Oh one more thing, I hope (not very nice lah but), someone choke to death in one of these eating contest so that they do ever do it again, these contest I mean :)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Puteri,
Come to think of it, wouldn't Pigging Out be better than Slugging It Out? You know, like those ppl at some courthouses...? purrr....meow!
Oooh...spay them all! Habis cerita!!!

Typhoon Sue said...

i saw this contest on TV once where a skinny japanese boy, supposedly a reigning champion in a hotdog eating contest shoved down a huge number of hotdogs in 2 minutes, and after being announced the winner, promptly headed straight to the back of the stage and puked his entire guts out.

what a waste!

Unknown said...

..sign of the times, lady..our society is decaying..in all fronts..sports, moral and any other thing that you can think of..pretty soon they will introduce a competition to see who can spit the farthest..and there is such a competition in the land of Obama..cheers

Kama At-Tarawis said...

Anon 8.59 - Yup, yup, yup. maybe it's time we hv the "Bingai-est Malaysian" contest.. hehehe

Pat - Oh goodness, hot-dog eating an Olympic event? From which lubang cacing this worm crawled out? Indeed Pat, to thin k that we hv this when so many around the world go hungry.. whatever happens to conscience?

Mamasita - to them it's a promotional stunt, nothing more. yg disgustednya kita.

Anon 3.26 - sememangnya mutoh kedaroh/mentekedarah.. bukan makan lagi. Perakians would say 'buruk lantak'

D - It's 'boleh' in the wrong direction.. hehehe

Tommy - same difference, eh, tommy? hard to fathom why ppl pile their plates when they can go for seconds and thirds and fourths..

Cat - I like your idea of spaying them all, cat.. kasi buang itu tulur-tulur.. hehehe

Sue - precisely! dah mencekik habis-habisan then puke it all out again..

Pakmat - eee!

Salt N Turmeric said...

Kak Puteri

I never understood the eating contest either and even on Travel Channel they have a show called Man v Food. I find it repulsive seeing men/women trying to eat as much as they can.

FYI and anon, the activities of getting to be in Guinness World Book of Record (or the Msian version) is not just a Malaysian thing. If only Malaysia gets to see half the shows here about the ridiculous or dangerous or crazy things tht ppl around the world do in the name of fame you'll see that ours are just not as bad.