Chow down on Travel Channel's 'Man v. Food'

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By Emley Kerry

"Man v. Food," the Travel Channel's foray into lowbrow gluttony, follows amicable host Adam Richman as he eats his way across America, traveling to different cities and sampling the notable local cuisine. To be certain, however, Richman ends up getting more than a mere sample.

His culinary anthropology is not all pleasure because at the end of every episode, the host must face off against the city's "big food" by undertaking a preexisting eating challenge at a local restaurant. And what a challenge it is.

For example, in San Jose, Calif., the husky host took town Iguana's imposing Burritozilla and SmokeEater's infernal Hellfire challenge - consuming 12 wings coated in a lethal concoction of spices including habanero pepper, and then once eaten, licking one's fingers clean and remaining seated without napkins or a beverage for five minutes. The viewer can't help but remain transfixed as Richman sweats and cries his way through the wings and then sits, eyes closed in zen-like but palpably painful silence, through the remaining five minutes.

Other challenges include eating a two and a half pound burger and fries in under 30 minutes in Colombus, Ohio, a massive two gallon ice cream sundae with all the fixings in San Francisco, and some of the hottest crawfish in the country in Vegas (although a dubious claim for any Louisiana resident to believe).

Richman, who approaches each challenge with gusto, occasional pleading glances at camera and the humor of a standup comedian, stresses that he is simply a food enthusiast and not a professional eater. He's just a dude who loves food; an everyman's man who wants to prove that one humble guy with an elastic stomach can take on inhuman proportions.

In addition to quantity, "Man v. Food" stresses the quality of the food. While this is certainly not haute cuisine, Richman visits lauded restaurants and goes back in the kitchen to discuss the quality of the ingredients with the restaurant's head chef.

Each show wraps up with a mock press conference in which the exhausted, stuffed-to-the-gills Richman recaps the eating challenge with the bravado of a professional athlete.

Watching Richman eat such massive proportions begs the question, "Why isn't he fatter? Or just dead?" Purportedly, the food aficionado exercises with a trainer twice a day while on the road, and he miraculously runs on the treadmill for an hour after each eating challenge.

So far in season two, the score remains Man 3 - Food 1. Tune in Wednesday, Sept. 2 for burgers, barbeque and to cheer on the host through a four-member food-and-sport relay race in Durham, N.C.

Season Two premiered on August 5. The 30-minute show currently comes on the Travel Channel in back-to-back episodes, Wednesdays at 9 and 9:30 p.m.

Originally Published: Issue 814 - September 2, 2009

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