Five giant stadium items. Nine innings of baseball. One man’s valiant quest for food immortality.
Jenny Chang / BuzzFeed
Let's get this out of the way up front: This is a bad idea. Possibly even a terrible idea. You're reading about the Citi Field Food Challenge specifically because it's a bad idea, and when you're done reading, maybe you'll consider taking the Challenge, too — again, because it's a bad idea, and what are we if not adventurers in the face of stupidly large food challenges?
And let's just acknowledge that, you and me: This is a bad idea, and it may or may not end with your head buried in a trash can outside the right field bleachers. Challenger, beware.
So onto the challenge. It's simple, really: We looked at the menu at Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, and dug up the best, the biggest, the most insane food that money could buy. And then we stuck it all on a Bingo card.
The outside edges of the card are the biggest foods: your mountains of ribs, your savory meatball sliders, your fully-stuffed Italian subs. We loaded the inside ring with more reasonably-sized food options: fried dough and bacon-on-a-stick and humongous milkshakes. (Your definition of "reasonable" may vary.) The free space is a Brooklyn Summer Ale, one of the many excellent local beers sold at the ballpark. Let no one say the stadium food gods are less than merciful.
The rules are simple:
1) Your first bite starts at the scheduled time for first pitch. (Rain delay? You can still take that first bite at 7:05.)
2) You've got 9 innings to finish five food items — any five, as long as they're in a row. No extra innings eating allowed, sorry!
3) You must hold your food down for at least 15 minutes after your last bite.
4) You accept the consequences and the punishment the Challenge will almost certainly dole out.
That clear?
So here's my attempt. The night? Aug. 12. The game? Nationals-Mets. The Challenge? A very bad idea.
Dan Oshinsky / BuzzFeed