Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 18, 2007 at 8:15 AM
Times restaurant critic Giles Coren, on his experience being chosen by the BBC to dress, drink and eat like an Edwardian gentleman for an entire week:
There can have been no better time for a chap like me to be alive. So what an enormous stroke of luck that the BBC were looking for someone to send back to that very era — to live, dress, exercise, eat and drink like an Edwardian man of means — to find out what it did to his girth, his arteries, his inner organs, his digestion, his mood, his very soul. Some guinea pigs might have been daunted by the prospect of four whopping meals a day, rivers of grog and hardly any fruit, vegetables or water for an entire week. But not I.
Coren and his co-presenter Sue Perkins were featured on an episode of the series The Edwardians — the Birth of Now titled "Edwardian Supersize Me". On just their first day of Edwardian life, breakfast took so long that the chef rang the lunch bell before they were through; including a roast chicken taken at midnight, in the manner of Edward VII himself, Coren ended up consuming about 5,000 calories during the course of the day!
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 7, 2007 at 2:56 PM
Zach of the Midtown Lunch blog shares his slightly terrifying but also pretty hilarious Guide to Beating the All You Can Eat Chinese Food Buffet:
I really love Chinese Buffets. And it is not just the fact that you get to stuff your face (something I enjoy doing very much). It’s also the no waiting (you start eating right after you sit down), the variety (it’s the spice of life!) and of course, the competition. That’s right… the competition. You vs. the Buffet. The price is really just a dare. A sign that says “All-U-Can-Eat for $14.50″, might as well just say “I dare you to eat more than $14.50 worth of food. Signed - The Buffet.”
Basically, your goal from the moment you walk into the buffet should be “Win the Game”. And the game is to eat so much food that the restaurant loses money. You want to eat so much that when they see you come back the next time, they get scared. You want them to worry that if you eat at their buffet too often, they might have to close it down. But before you can learn how to beat your enemy, you must KNOW your enemy.
I try not to stuff myself too full these days—no competitive eating for me—but Zach's third tip is good advice for any buffet situation, whether it's a bargain Chinese place, a sitdown picnic or at a fancy wedding.
