Overeating at the Big Easy

As a nation we’re constantly told that we’re currently in the midst of an epidemic of obesity, caused by a high intake of saturated fats and a sedentary lifestyle. Continued scoffing of burgers, chips and turkey twizzlers has long-term consequences of diabetes, heart attacks and shorted life expectancy. But you know what? Stuff it, it’s Independence Day, the chance to make merry with the type of food that caused Vogue editor Anna Wintour to describe some American folk as ‘small houses’.

Sure, if you ate this food for every meal for a month, you would not be looking pretty. But for one day of the year, surely it’s all right to overindulge once in a while. So when I was offered the chance to take part in an Independence Day spare rib-eating contest at the Big Easy in Chelsea, I did give some serious consideration about the health implications of participating in such a high-volume affair. Then I thought, ‘Let’s do this!’

I arrived at the Big Easy on King’s Road having done what I thought was some pretty nifty preparation for what lay ahead. A small lunch and a long bike ride down to Chelsea had roused quite a feeling of hunger. My trousers were loosened enough to accommodate the oncoming weight of food, I sank down a specially-made red, white and blue margarita and settled down with nine other competitors; four men and five women.

We were informed about the rules and promised a provision of water and beer to help the ribs go down. The bar manager made sure we were all bibbed up before announcing that we had half an hour to get through as many racks of ribs as we could. He made a countdown and it was time to starting gorging. I was feeling pretty confident, just until the point at which the rack of ribs was put down on my plate.

This was no ordinary rack. This was something extravagant, enormous and unwieldy. I didn’t know whether to start eating it or use it to make part of a railway track. Armed with only a knife and a quickly contracting stomach, I set about parting the ribs, trying to make a smaller target to try and overcome.

Usually when sampling food, I try and enjoy its nuances and the expertise that has been put into creating it. Now I was just trying to cram as much of it in my mouth in the smallest amount of time.

The time was beginning to run out and the other competitors were beginning to get ahead of me. Soon my hopes of winning the competition faded as they went onto their second, third and fourth rack of ribs. My target came to be just finishing the second rack that was put before me. I chewed and masticated and tried to swallow it all down. Finally the last rib was picked off for the last remaining piece of meat and I slumped back down into my chair.

I had failed and was feeling a bit sick. I shouldn’t have done given the great quality of the ribs with a lip-smackingly good glaze. I sat back with another margarita and congratulated the winners. Well done to Kieran Kennedy and Anna Atkinson who put away five and three racks of ribs respectively. Victory was theirs but their efforts meant that they were still suffering as.

The Big Easy
332-334 Kings Road
Chelsea
SW3 5UR

Image by Girl Interrupted Eating courtesy of Flickr