Food Wars

Have you ever seen a food contest? Lots of people, stuffing food down their belly in a gruesome manner. That is no way to eat. I’ve been a foodie as long as I can remember. Sandwiches and pizzas are my favourite. You can shape the recipe in way you want. Chicken, mutton, salami, paneer, vegetables, you name the item and it can be put on a bread.

A week ago, me and my friends finished our final exams and decided to have some fun. There were several plans thrown about. One that received most attention was drinking. We wanted to go to a nearby bar and drink our worries away. Vodka and whiskey were the favoured choices. Everything in the plan was thought about, budget decided and then settled. We decided to go to a bar and drink.

While we were having this conversation, our friends Karan and Saras were having a different argument all together. It was about who could eat more. It wasn’t a violent argument, but definitely had a lot of boasts.

One said, I can eat 6 chapatis in a sitting. The other one said I can eat a plate full of rice. This way, the whole argument lasted for nearly 15 minutes. Neither wanted to give in to other person’s arguments. Infact, by this time, the arguments were beginning to be quite stupid. Karan said he could eat 10 boiled eggs in a sitting. Saras said he could eat 2 litres of  milk at a time. There was no way to compare who could eat more from their arguments.

At the end, Vicky came up with a solution. Sandwiches. One veg sandwich costs Rs.20 in the bakery. So, he said that we should  buy 20 of them and then have ourselves an old fashioned eating contest. Who could eat most in 5 minutes. It seemed like a good way to test our two friends.

But one problem existed. How were we to pay for all that?

The answer came quite quickly from Saras. He suggested that we gather 10 more people, all close friends and pitch this idea to them. Each person can pay Rs.20 and using that, we would buy the sandwiches.

Surprisingly, it didn’t took us much time to come up with 10 more people willing to pay Rs.20 for some fun. Most of them were people from next wing who played football with us. It was certain that the contest would be quite fun. Also, fun would be their faces when they would be done. I’ve seen some eating contests on youtube and I gotta say, contestant’s faces always look funny when they’re done.

In the evening, I, Tarak, Anil and Vicky went to the bakery and placed an order for 20 veg. sandwiches. The people around us, along with the bakery owner gave us a surprised look. Nobody orders 20 of the same thing ever. It was definitely a record and I felt a little embarrassed with all these eyes on me. Anil and Vicky chuckled. A few people around asked us what we were gonna do with so many sandwiches. We replied we were having an eating contest. They looked surprised and amused at the same time.

In some time, our order came and we went to our corridor. We decided to have the contest in the middle on the corridor so that nobody’s room got littered. We opened up all the sandwiches and placed them on a Saras’s table which we had brought outside his room and placed in the centre of the corridor. Two chairs were placed on the opposite sides of the table where Karan and Saras sat. We called everyone who had paid. We were all eager to see this contest. It was not a matter of who would win that had driven people here. It was the fun that would come when you watch 2 people gulping down food as fast as they could, smearing some sauces on their faces.

About 5 minutes before it started, Sumit commented: “I should try it out too. I am a foodie.”

Only Sarvesh heard this comment and started to laugh loudly. When we inquired, he told us about Sumit’s statement and it made us all laugh. Sumit was the kind of guy who would have two cups of dal for lunch and one chapatti and would declare that he was full. He ate so less that sometimes he made us all wonder how he managed to stay fat.

After a good laugh that made Sumit’s face contort in a fashion that showed he was furious but trying desperately to look amused, we began the contest.

Karan and Saras, both moved their hands and mouths as fast as they could. Saras sipped water after every bite to ensure that the food went in fast. Before that contest, we had assumed that there would be some untouched sandwiches which would be shared between the group. But the way these two gobbled up the sandwiches, we started to worry that none would be left when they were finished. Vicky kept Saras’s score while Tarak did the same for Karan.

After a few quick bites, Karan stopped eating and looked up, panting and smiling. I don’t know what it was but we all started to laugh. Saras looked at people laugh but refused to stop. He kept eating, unconcerned with the surrounding and his competition. Within a few seconds, Karan went back to work. He started to stuff his mouth with two pieces of sandwich at once in a comical fashion. The tomato ketchup was on his nose, his cheeks, hands and chin. It was a comic moment, one that definitely ensured that my Rs.20 had not gone to waste.

When 5 minutes were over, Sarvesh called a stop to the contest. There was 1 untouched sandwich and 2 half eaten ones. Vicky announced that Saras’s score was 9. Tarak announced Karan’s score to be 8. At the very moment, Saras jumped us, both fists in the air and started thumping his chest like King Kong.

It was an amusing site. We all laughed. Karan accepted his defeat graciously, laughing and making jokes that his stomach was about to burst. In all the commotion, the final sandwich disappeared. We still don’t know who the sandwich thief was. So, we now call him simply sandwich thief.

Later that night, all 20 of us went drinking and eating. Except Karan and Saras, all had dinner. Since I do not like the medicine like taste of Whiskey, I had Vodka. Not all of us drank. Few just ate and had soft drinks. None of us were hammered that night, but we still behaved like drunks. We laughed and sung aloud, joking and making fun of each other, and especially the faces of our two competitors.