What’s next in the food challenge series? We’ve had several Wendy’s challenges. I would go so far as to say we’ve pretty much exhausted the Wendy’s possibilities (that said, I’m sure someone will read this as a challenge and come up with something even worse than the fries and milkshake challenge).

Thank goodness for Taco Bell.

Gautam (aka The Unsung Hero) had come up with the idea of eating 20 Taco Bell original tacos (those are the hardshell crunchy ones - 89¢ each) in an hour during one of our many reminisces over previous food challenges. Unfortunately, he came up with this idea on his last day of work before taking a couple of weeks vacation. Everyone thought this was a great idea but understandingly, did not want to proceed without Gautam (even though he said he would come back from his vacation just to witness this challenge we didn’t really think this would be fair).

So now that Gautam is back and all caught up with work, it’s time to get the ball rolling.

20 Taco Bell tacos don’t sound like a lot. I mean, I order 3 of those suckers every time I eat at Taco Bell (because they taste great at 2 AM and we all know they aren’t that filling). So what’s the big deal? 20? No problem.

But think about it…..

20 tacos in an hour means you have to finish a taco every 3 minutes. For an hour. When was the last time you ate food steadily for an entire hour? We’re not talking a normal dinner with conversation and wine.

Steady eating.

For a whole hour.

20 tacos.

The talk is this is going down this week. So I hear… I’ll keep you posted.

Note: as an aside, I was going through the office working up enthusiasm for the new Taco Bell challenge. Of course that dredged up stories about previous challenges, who had participated, how they went. The one that brought up the mose fries and milkshake in a blender challenge. Mark B was describing how he tested out this challenge ahead of time and how the coldness of the milkshake made all the fat from the fries congeal so that the resulting goop was the consistency of cement. It was so thick it had to be eaten from a spoon. In fact, if you scooped some out then held the spoon upside down, none of it would fall. You would think such a colorful description would deter anyone from trying this challenge again, but nope, instead this long store only stoked the passions of some of our eaters. So there may be rematch… stay tuned.

Ahhh the food challenge. If you’re not familiar with the phenomenon, it’s an epic right of passage usually restricted to teenage boys in which participants race to finish large quantities of low-quality food. At Buzzillions, this vestige of adolescence is alive and well. Coney Island has the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest and Buzzillions has… the Wendy’s Dollar Menu challenge, the Milkshake challenge and the deceptively difficult Cinnamon Teaspoon challenge.

When it comes to food challenges, certain employees among us like to push the envelope. While our staff has yet to produce a hot dog eater as celebrated as Takeru Kobyashi, we have our fair share of cult heroes and unlikely champions. Enter Matt Wendling and Gautam Prabhu. Anything they may lack in stomach capacity, they make up for in sheer ingenuity. Since we’re all about reviews here, here’s my assessment of two food challenge all-stars:

Gautam aka The Unsung Hero ****

Pros: Boundless enthusiasm for challenges, Puts his money where his mouth is

Cons: Rarely actually participates*

Best Uses: Instigating, Betting on food challenges

Review:

Behind every good food challenge is a good instigator. If a sentence starts off with “Wouldn’t it be gross if…" Gautam happily lays down a $5 bill for whoever will take said dare. Gautam rarely participates in food challenges, but without him, the Wendy’s Dollar Menu challenge never would have come about. Who could take the idea of racing to eat each item of 10 items of the Wendy’s Dollar Menu from dream to reality? Who could rope at least 10 of his colleagues into participating without participating himself? Who would be elated rather than disgusted watching the spectacle from beginning to bitter, super-sized end? Gautam, that’s who.

*There is only one known instance of Gautam participating in a food challenge. Rumor has it that he attempted the Cinnamon Teaspoon challenge in the Fall of ‘07, but lost on a technicality.

Matt Wendling aka The Machine *****

Pros: Impossibly large stomach capacity, Loves food

Cons: Never lets anyone else win, Susceptible to food comas

Best Uses: The Wendy’s Dollar Menu challenge, Chugging frozen concoctions

Review:

Since I joined the company in November, I’ve witnessed Matt’s food challenge prowess on two occasions. One involved a blender, a Wendy’s frosty and a large order of fries. Imagine a sludge made of cold potatoes and chocolate milk. Now imagine drinking it in 3 minutes flat. But Matt did not rest on his laurels. Some months later, Matt took on some stiff competition from across the company, and came out ahead. Remember the Wendy’s Challenge? Using the weaving and bobbing technique he went from fries to chicken sandwich to chili and finished all ten 10 items in 10 minutes. Tasty.

Stayed tuned for more adventures, but never, ever try this at home.

Angela