Giant Burger. Giant Selfish Idiot.

When I have time, I like to look at the news sites, especially trying to catch hold of the smaller stories, as I believe these often tell you more about the state of the world. Today is no exception. On the Sky News website is a story about this smug meat eater, proud of himself for eating an enormous amount of animal flesh. The media too see this as something of an achievement rather than a disgraceful publicity stunt from many viewpoints.

So, we have people in despicable poverty, people starving on a daily basis, let alone the billions of animals we routinely torture and kill for our selfish and honestly sick desires. Is this really something then to be proud of? Being not only a glutton and one of those who does not seem to see the inequality in the world but also celebrating a culture that murders animals? Surely an article on how out of place this type of behaviour is in today’s world, where many western children are obese and many third world children painfully thin, where some animals are nurtured as loving pets, and others stuck with sharp sticks and put in stalls or cages where they cannot even rest comfortable whilst waiting for death. Have a look at the picture. Really look at it. Some bread with parts of a dead animal in between it. Which parts of the animal depends on where it came from, it could be part of the animals leg, trunk, face, genitals, brains and skin. An animal which was born from a mother who probably wanted to be a mother but was not permitted to be, an animal who may not even have seen grass, an animal who has been genetically modified to have more flesh on its body for humans to eat. An animal who needs people to speak out about how wrong all of this is.

11:34am UK, Friday October 17, 2008

An American chef has chewed his way through a burger weighing 15lbs in a four-and-a-half hour marathon eating session.

Feeling peckish? Brad Sciullo contemplates his mammoth meal

Brad Sciullo, who works at an Italian restaurant in Pennsylvania, has become the first person to conquer the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser.

The mammoth meal weighs 15lbs (6.8kg) and has 5.2lbs (2.3kg) of toppings.

The gastronomic adventurer completed his mission in four hours and 39 minutes.

Dennis Leigey, owner of Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub, said Mr Sciullo, of Uniontown, was the first person to finish the meal.

Asked what possessed him to tackle the burger, Mr Sciullo said simply: “I wanted to see if I could.”

The Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser includes a bun, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mild banana peppers and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and relish.