I was having lunch with my friend Scott today, we talked about how we both have to rotate different foods in and out of our diets. Then we started reminiscing about our Freshmen year of college, when we lived in the dorms and could eat whatever we wanted three times a day. (Buffet style. The restriction was one plate of food at a time. Not much of a restriction...) And then have ice cream on top of that. (And I ate plenty) Scott was disappointed the day they served jambalaya (he is from New Orleans), and it was not that good. I remember the days they brought in the personal 6 inch pizzas, and I would eat 4 or 5 of then at a time. With fries.
A few days ago I was thinking about all the differing kinds of foods I have eaten in the past. I'm not saying the scope is necessarily the same as others reading this, but I think I've eaten a lot of different stuff, and I've definitely eaten a lot of it...
I am sure my Mom could tell stories about amounts of food she had to make day after day that would frighten the tar out of young couples with small kids. I had four younger brothers, we ate plenty of what she made day after day. (And as far as I remember, as long as it wasn't "green banana soup", we liked just about all of it.) The coneheads had nothing on us when it came to mass quantities. I'm sure it wasn't up to par with families with four future college football players or people like that, but I have seven kids, mostly girls, and I don't think we will reach those kinds of quantities any time soon. Oh, also, if you didn't eat fast, sometimes you didn't get seconds. I always wanted seconds, so I ate fast. My Mom always tried to serve me last, so the other kids got a chance...
When I was 14 or something, I washed dishes at a fancy restaurant down the street from my house. (I think it was called 'Warren's' or something like that, but it's gone now.) Anyway, work consisted of washing pots and pans while watching them cook the entrees, and washing dishes while watching them make the desserts. It all looked really good. The entree chef every day would find something new I hadn't tried to sample. (For example, one day he said "have you ever tried smoked duck?" Then he would slice me off a piece to try. Every day was different.) After the dinner rush was over, the entire crew would sit down and eat a meal together. Something different every night, something in a pot, always really good. I don't remember how much they paid me an hour, but it was always in cash and it was always provided in a small brown envelope. I don't think I made tons of money there, I don't remember exactly how long I worked there, but I think I eventually left for a better paying job.
I worked at a scout camp in the summers, in the kitchen. This had definite food related advantages. We would get up plenty early to get breakfast ready for the scouts, after serving and cleaning, we would eat. For breakfast, I many days would get a box of lucky charms, a big clear bowl, and some milk, and would go to town. Usually this would be associated with people sitting around watching me eat. I think I may have been some sort of side show freak. One time Roger made "Chocolate Fest" for the camp staff. I went to town. I've talked about Cadbury Creme Eggs here before. I am sure there are people out there that have a "John Payne eating at the camp - mass quantity" story...
I worked at Wendy's for a while in High School. I mostly worked nights. If you worked a full eight or ten hour shift, they either gave a steep discount for a meal, or comped a meal, I don't remember which. On full shift days, I would go to town on the salad bar they had there, or get a double combo, depending on my mood. Most of the time, I worked the grill. On nights when I closed, I generally ate a spicy chicken sandwich after the store closed, and then made a "giant fry ball" with the left over fries. That's right. Giant Fry Ball. Multiple nights a week.
I served a mission for my church in San Fernando California. There are people from all over the world in the San Fernando Valley. We ate all kinds of food. The members of the church often liked to feed the missionaries, and they always assumed we were super hungry all the time. This was fine by me. In my first area, we were eating at the home of an Italian family, who made a giant pot of spaghetti. They served us on platters. (Full on platters, heaped with food.) I ate two plates, they wanted me to eat a third. As I was finishing my second plate, my companion was finishing his first plate. They asked me if I wanted more, but I said "No, I think two plates is my limit, but Elder Meier here told me earlier that he was really hungry today, so I am sure he would love a second plate." Elder Meier could barely finish his first serving, and wasn't happy I did that to him... On my mission I had foods from all over the world. At one point I am pretty sure a Philippino family servved me a stew that had dog meat in it.
After my mission, I was enrolled in school, although I spent more time in other endeavors a lot. I had two jobs, one of which was on a framing crew. I estimate I had a 6000 calorie a day diet. A typical day involved going to work at 6:30am, taking a break at 9am to go to the gas station. I usually had a big breakfast burrito with tator babies, a large soda, a candy bar, and some other snack to take back to the site. We would stop for lunch, and go somewhere for a full on lunch. Mid afternoon, back to the gas station for either another soda or a gatorade, an ice cream sandwich or Klondike bar (usually a Klondike bar), a candy bar, and some other snack. After work, a full on dinner. Then sometime at night, some sort of snack or ice cream, or whatever. I burned off every calorie I ate back then.
We used to go to a place called 'Brick Oven' at the end of every semester to take dates, tell stories, and try to eat everyone else under the table. My friend Jonathan would always try to out eat me, but he never could. I would pound it down. One time we went to a place called 'Leatherbee's', that had a 25(?) scoop dish. I ordered one, and talked Jonathan into one. I finished mine about 45 minutes before he finished his. I shivered all night after that.
Then there is all the random stuff I have eaten. If I am hungry enough, I will eat anything. One of the guys at work a few years back had these 72 hour kits that were 15 years old. Every time he went out of town for training or vacation, I would get hungry and think about eating one of them. One day I finally did. It was nasty. One time we had a student that left a burrito in the freezer of our little fridge at work. The student went on a two year mission, and came back to work for us. The little freezer had been frozen over for a long time. He thawed it out, and found his burrito. He let me eat it. It was kind of freezer burnt and was missing some of it's flavor. I added pepper. A few months ago one of my students had a box of wheat thins on his desk. They had been there for a while, and were well past the expiration date. I decided to help him out by eating them for him. They were slightly rancid. It didn't stop me from eating most of the entire box. (The aftertaste was worse than the initial taste. I kept eating to avoid the aftertaste, and I was hungry.) I bought him a new box.
I am sure there are plenty of other stories. Lots of differing foods I have eaten. Plenty of times eating way too much. (Like 24 1/2 large wings at Wingers. The 1/2 wing was because I dropped one in mid-bite...)
These days, I try to do better. My doctor has me rotating in and out things like wheat, gluten, milk, and something that I for some reason can't remember right now. (edit: eggs.) I have been doing this for 2 months now, and feel physically better than I have in years. I try not to go to town quite as often. I mostly sit on my rear end all day long, and don't get tons of exercise. I still don't do very good. Last week, a store around here had 8 pieces of fried chicken for $5. I think I ate the equivalent of an entire chicken. A small chicken. (I like fried chicken...) Today I had a 9 inch Philly cheese steak sandwich with heaped with jalapeno and banana peppers. It was tasty. I did walk 1.5 miles to work this morning. But I also ate a bag of chips and salsa from Cafe Rio while I typed this... Some day I will learn. Or not.
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