The American cult culinary TV series, ‘Man V Food’, has fast become a worldwide cultural touchstone, but how did local contestants cope with the mammoth meat feat dished up by Robinsons Visitors Centre in Stockport?!?
On Tuesday the 17th December, Celebrity Chef Simon Rimmer put his wooden spoon aside for a front row seat at Robinsons’ gastronomic marathon. Inspired by the hit US series ‘Man V Food’, the premise of the event was disarmingly simple: eat everything in sight!
Gastro belts were loosened, stretched, and eventually engulfed as Simon Rimmer, Robinsons’ Catering Development Manager Christian Whittleworth, and the rest of the Robinsons Visitors Centre A-team served up a ‘challenge’ of colossal proportions for 50 allegedly insatiable men and women, plus 80 ‘spectators’ who enjoyed ‘regular’ portions of food.
Each of the stalwart contenders had just 30 minutes in which to consume an offensively huge dish designed to stretch their stomachs and taste buds to the limit: sporting a gargantuan 18oz burger the size of a sofa cushion served on brioche and topped with bacon, cheese, caramelised onions, chilli mayo, pickles and BBQ pulled pork… served with a side order of fries, coleslaw and salad leaves (for the health conscious!), washed down with a chilli laced pint of Robinsons real ale and cooled down with an ice cream made from – yes, you guessed it – chillies!
Needless to say … they came, they saw, they were conquered!!
Of the 50 competitors that took part, only seven men were left standing. These food champions received their dinner for free plus a bespoke winner’s T-shirt. Food had the last laugh as these defeated men and women were served up a divine final course of instant, unexpected pregnancy … AKA … the food baby from hell!
Ballooned bellies aside, this was a truly fantastic event which brought the entire community out of their homes and into Robinsons recently launched Visitors Centre – a fantastic and very unique event venue.
Commenting on the event, Simon Rimmer said: “when we devised the menu I thought the heat was going to be the thing that got them and the power of the chillies but no one seemed to be particularly phased by that. I think what really got them was the combination of carbohydrates that killed them. All the guys who finished had good tactics – they didn’t stop. Adam (Richman) always says that with the big eating challenges you’ve got to keep going the digestive system going because the minute you stop the body goes into lockdown.”
When asked if Simon would ever do this he said: “never! I just don’t know how anyone does it; I admire everyone sat around this table that did it. Just the sight of it makes me feel slightly nauseous.”
The US series of ‘Man V Food’ may be no more, but perhaps a revival of this excessive extravaganza may be on the cards at Robinsons Visitors Centre in the voracious town of Stockport. Since opening its doors in March 2013, Robinsons Visitors Centre has hosted a range of events from beer and food matching to BBQs, breakfast meetings to bespoke conference banqueting.
To snap up tickets for the next line-up of unique events hosted at Robinsons Visitors Centre please visit www.robinsonsvisitorscentre.co.uk , email events@frederic-robinson.co.uk or call 0161 612 4100.
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