Can you justify competitive eating?

[jmcrae]

I’m talking about general tradition.

Like Santa Claus at Christmas and pumpkins at Hallowe’en? Well, I don’t think there is anything about eating contests in general cultural traditions, either.

I doubt that my grandparents would have ever even heard of such a thing as an eating contest - they grew up during the Great Depression in the 1930s, and they would have seen it as a terrible waste of good food.

 

[aspawloski4th]

Like Santa Claus at Christmas and pumpkins at Hallowe’en? Well, I don’t think there is anything about eating contests in general cultural traditions, either.

I doubt that my grandparents would have ever even heard of such a thing as an eating contest - they grew up during the Great Depression in the 1930s, and they would have seen it as a terrible waste of good food.

All my parents lived throough the depression and great grandparents lived through the fiancial panic of c1907. both in city life and country life. County fairs went on doing the same thing they always did including an eating contest here and there. Eating contests are nothing new. Training for them maybe, but in of themselves no they are not.

 

[LittleBits]

I would like to say first, to the person who said “you can’t ban something because it’s bad for your health”, you most certainly can, why do you think they passed the recent smoking in clubs/restaurants/bars ban? Because it is bad for your health!
Secondly, I feel competitive eating is disgusting, and it is disrespectful to those who endure without food. All of the money they use to buy food for these “competitions” could be going to stocking the pantries of the needy, hspts, soup kitchens, Church pantries, senior citizen homes…

 

[aspawloski4th]

How would any of you had a tradition you liked taken away? Everybody on the side agaisnt tradition says give the food to the poor. Remember most eating contests are either in something like a county fair setting or a restuarant. In the case of the restuarant its the businesse’s food to do with what they want. Eating contests are used as a fun way of promoting their busniness. Picking on small issues like this is not going to win converts,especially with people who like their traditions. Picking on a petty issue like this makes one comeoff sounding like a goody 2 shoes. Most people I know don’t like the goody 2 shoes type at all. You have to learn to pick your battles.

 

[aspawloski4th]

“Free will” does not mean that you can do whatever you want and it is ok. It means that we have the freedom to either choose to do right or wrong and accept the consequences. We all know what the consequenses of sin is.

Ah and you are the final arbrtor of sin?

 

[jmcrae]

How would any of you had a tradition you liked taken away?

It’s not a “tradition.” It’s just a kind of weird game where people see whether they might kill themselves by stuffing themselves as full as possible, and waste a great deal of food because after they’ve stuffed themselves, they get very sick and throw it all back up again.

“Traditions” are things like the crowning of Mary in May, with a procession, or kids wearing white outfits to their First Holy Communion, and things like that - nice things, that don’t hurt anybody.

 

[aspawloski4th]

It’s not a “tradition.” It’s just a kind of weird game where people see whether they might kill themselves by stuffing themselves as full as possible, and waste a great deal of food because after they’ve stuffed themselves, they get very sick and throw it all back up again.

“Traditions” are things like the crowning of Mary in May, with a procession, or kids wearing white outfits to their First Holy Communion, and things like that - nice things, that don’t hurt anybody.

Yes it’s a tradition in some small venues. You don’t know you Americana very well. Another food tradition which is in my family is red cake at Chirrstmas. Try taking that one away and you are guarenteed war with the Pawloski adults. Don’t come to Rockford Michigan, near where I live. There a restuat that on occasion has a hotdog eating contest with a few small prizes for the winners. its usually on a weekend when people are either chillin out or blowing off steam. In the grand scheme of things that amount of food eaten in the contest isnt even a drop in the bucket. Worry about the big things, don’t sweat the small stuff.

 

[Laura_Ic]

I think eating contests are gross. Some may disagree but I also believe that those who particpate are committing gluttony. Instead of having an eating contest, donate the food to those who need it. There are so many people in our own country and throughout the world who don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

I think eating contests are gross. Some may disagree but I also believe that those who particpate are committing gluttony. Instead of having an eating contest, donate the food to those who need it. There are so many people in our own country and throughout the world who don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

Gluttony as I understand it, is not exclusive to food. It’s basically the sin of an unhealthy lifestyle via an obsessive overdose. Thus, we’re all committing gluttony, one way or another. Heck I myself can be charged with gluttony for not eating and opting to spend hours on the net or playing a video game instead.

With that said, I don’t think eating contests are occasions of gluttony. It’s one thing to eat a high amount of food in a short span of time and another to be obsessed with overindulging all the time.

 

[aspawloski4th]

Gluttony as I understand it, is not exclusive to food. It’s basically the sin of an unhealthy lifestyle via an obsessive overdose. Thus, we’re all committing gluttony, one way or another. Heck I myself can be charged with gluttony for not eating and opting to spend hours on the net or playing a video game instead.

With that said, I don’t think eating contests are occasions of gluttony. It’s one thing to eat a high amount of food in a short span of time and another to be obsessed with overindulging all the time.

Now that makes total sense. Thats using you head.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Secondly, I feel competitive eating is disgusting, and it is disrespectful to those who endure without food. All of the money they use to buy food for these “competitions” could be going to stocking the pantries of the needy, hspts, soup kitchens, Church pantries, senior citizen homes…

Or you could just donate the proceeds (as with any other contest).

You know, this type of thinking makes me wonder. Has anyone ever attended a costume contest? I’ve been to a fair few where the costumes were extremely extravagant, well-made, and made heavy use of materials like wood, tape, cloth, Styrofoam, cardboard, paint etc. Why have such contests when you could have donated the materials too? I’m pretty sure there are tons of homeless folk who need just as much clothing and tailoring (they dress pretty shabbily after all) as they need food. The schools could use the other materials as well. Where’s the outrage? :ehh:

And for the record, eating contests aren’t exactly popular in poor countries. I should know. I live in one. If anything, they could probably be a sign of how bountiful a country is. Furthermore, I notice from some debates here that Americans have a particular difficulty telling between a truly poor person who needs help and a lazy bum leeching off the pity and charity of the religiously naive.

 

[jmcrae]

Or you could just donate the proceeds (as with any other contest).

You know, this type of thinking makes me wonder. Has anyone ever attended a costume contest? I’ve been to a fair few where the costumes were extremely extravagant, well-made, and made heavy use of materials like wood, tape, cloth, Styrofoam, cardboard, paint etc. Why have such contests when you could have donated the materials too? I’m pretty sure there are tons of homeless folk who need just as much clothing and tailoring (they dress pretty shabbily after all) as they need food. The schools could use the other materials as well. Where’s the outrage? :ehh:

Well, you don’t make yourself so sick that you throw up, in a costume contest.

And for the record, eating contests aren’t exactly popular in poor countries. I should know. I live in one. If anything, they could probably be a sign of how bountiful a country is.

No kidding. It’s almost like the contestants are saying “We don’t care how much food we waste.”

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Well, you don’t make yourself so sick that you throw up, in a costume contest.

I was merely using that as an example with regards to why the food in eating contests shouldn’t be donated instead. Costume competition contestants use materials that are just as valuable as food yet nobody plays the Donation Instead Card against them.

No kidding. It’s almost like the contestants are saying “We don’t care how much food we waste.”

Not exactly the best way to put it but hey, it ain’t right either to stop folks from enjoying the fruits of their labor.

 

[jmcrae]

Not exactly the best way to put it but hey, it ain’t right either to stop folks from enjoying the fruits of their labor.

But they aren’t enjoying them. They are stuffing them down so fast that they can’t possibly be able to taste them, and then throwing them right back up again as soon as they get too full.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

But they aren’t enjoying them. They are stuffing them down so fast that they can’t possibly be able to taste them, and then throwing them right back up again as soon as they get too full.

Sorry, I can’t take your word for it. There are many sports that may seem uncomfortable and not enjoyable by a lot of people but those who play them enjoy them. >:\

 

[jmcrae]

Sorry, I can’t take your word for it. There are many sports that may seem uncomfortable and not enjoyable by a lot of people but those who play them enjoy them. >:\

It’s hardly the same thing. At least with a sport you can claim that you are getting exercise and learning a physical skill.