Epic Portions

Category: Funny

  • 10 Most Dangerous Foods

    Now that H1:N1 has lost its mojo, many members of the media have set their formidable journalistic talents on finding the next great scare. What will it be? A new disease? Octogenarians driving out of control Toyotas? Sadly, it is something that hits close to home…food. The formerly respectable folks over at Time Magazine have released the 10 MOST DANGEROUS FOODS list. At any moment these edible assassins could sneak into your home, kick your dog and KILL YOU!!!!! Fortunately Epic Portions is here to defend food, even the horrific habitants of Time‘s list, many of which are delicious. Here is what Time claims will kill you, along with the uniquely insightful observations that only EP can provide.

    10. Mushrooms

    Thanks, Captain Obvious. Could you be a little more vague please, Time Magazine? Your journalism profs are rolling over in their graves. It’s not like the average person is picking the mushrooms in their backyard and scarfing them down while hoping for the best. If you don’t know that eating wild mushrooms is potentially hazardous than your presence in the human gene pool is no longer required. In the mean time, your friendly neighborhood grocer has a full supply of perfectly safe fungal goodness ready for addition to omelets or pizzas.

    9. Coffee

    Really, Time? Are you this desperate for dangerous food? Not to reveal the rest of the list too early, but since Chicken McNuggets is not on the list, ARE YOU REALLY TRYING TO SAY COFFEE IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN CHICKEN MCNUGGETS YOU FUCKING MORONS?!?!?!?!? If you read Time’s article, the rationale they give is the incident where the 79 year old woman failed to realize she had a cup holder, put her McCoffee in her lap and promptly burned the shit out of herself, then sued McDonalds for serving hot coffee. Time serves up a Venti sized pile of nonsense with this addition.

    8. Cassava

    Raw cassava looks delicious!

    Watch out world, better empty your pantry of cassava. Oh right, most of you probably have no idea what cassava is. Not trusting Time, I checked Wikipedia on this one. Apparently Cassava is an edible starchy tuberous root (sounds delicious!). The flour from the roots is used to make tapioca, something we’ve all heard of and don’t care about. Cassava is only dangerous when consumed raw. So, if you were considering heading out to the wild, pulling a starchy tuberous root out of the ground and consuming it raw, please send Time a note of thanks for saving your life.

    7. Tuna

    Hmmmm….Time tells me Tuna can kill me and Alton Brown says it is good for my health. Any guess at who I’m going to believe? We all know Tuna can contain mercury, but the Japanese eat a shitload of this fish and they are known for having a healthy diet. Tuna has the distinction of being able to be eaten raw with little potential health consequence, and the overwhelming potential of being delicious.

    6. Rhubarb

    We all knew Garrison Keillor was trying to kill us

    Considering gnawing on raw rhubarb leaves? Of course you weren’t. No, you really weren’t considering rhubarb at all, unless coupled with strawberry and served in a pie. Delicious. So, much like cassava, if you take one thing away from this, do not venture into the wilderness and eat raw rhubarb leaves.

    5. Leafy Greens

    Way to be vague again, Time. After years of being told by our parents that we need to eat spinach, Time has come to rescue us. I would like to point out, again, that according to Time eating leafy greens is more dangerous than eating Chicken McNuggets. Time is referring to the outbreak a few years back, when some brilliant farmer decided it was a good idea to let his cows take a shit upstream from where they grew their spinach. Time also points out that the majority of illness from eating leafy greens comes from food handlers not practicing proper hygiene. No shit, that would pretty much apply to any food, wouldn’t it? In the mean time, order me up a ceasar salad, extra romaine please.

    4. Peanuts

    Jack booted peanut Nazi's are after YOU!

    We all knew this was coming. Save us all from the peanut police. Before I get too nasty with peanut allergies, let me say I have true compassion for those allergic to peanuts. The inability to eat peanut butter is a gruesome curse to say the least. According to respected source Time magazine, 1% of the U.S. population suffers from peanut allergies. And most of them were in my son’s pre-school. A well known local movie theater chain had to stop popping popcorn in peanut oil due to mass peanut hysteria. The result, a significantly less delicious popcorn. For 1% of the population. Come get me peanut gestapo, I won’t allow you to ban peanuts from all public places. Meanwhile, for 99% of the U.S. population, PEANUTS ARE NOT MORE DANGEROUS THAN CHICKEN MCNUGGETS!!!

    3. Ackee

    Watch out for the wacky ackee in Jamaica!

    Apparently ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica. This truly is dangerous, as I had several friends who went to Jamaica during college to partake in a national Jamaican delight. For those who are traveling to Jamaica to mellow out on any Jamaican specialties, let Epic Portions tell you that ackee contains black seeds that are dangerous to consume. Come to think of it, my friends kept saying they had to remove the seeds before partaking in their Jamaican delicacy of choice, maybe they knew about this in advance.

    2. Fugu

    Mmmmm…fan-fugu-tastic!

    Thanks to the wacky adventures of Homer Simpson, I was well aware of the danger of Fugu, especially if the only chef qualified to prepare it is engaged in coital delights with Mrs. Krabappel in the backseat of a car (talk about dangerous activities!). If improperly prepared, fugu can be deadly, so it is fortunate that to legally prepare fugu (a Japanese delicacy) one must have two to three years of training. The Japanese consume 10,000 tons of fugu every year, with minimal incident. Sounds real deadly, huh?

    1. Hot Dogs

    No argument from me that a lot of hot dogs contain mystery parts and are not fit to be consumed by man or beast. But that is not why Time is saying they are deadly (if that were the case than they would HAVE to include Chicken McNuggets). No, Time tells us of the awesome choking power of the hot dog, especially to children. If you have kids and don’t know better than to cut the hot dog into bite size pieces before serving it to them, than I leave you with the wisdom of George Carlin. The late, great comic said: “Whatever happened to Darwin, survival of the fittest. The kid who swallows too many marbles doesn’t grow up to have kids of his own.” Or in this case, the parent who doesn’t cut up his kid’s hot dog properly regains their eligibility for a Darwin Award.

    Whew, that was tiring and has left me famished. I think I’ll have a Tuna Dog with a spinach salad with wild mushrooms and cassava, with a peanut-rhubarb buckle for dessert. And yes please on the after dinner coffee.

  • Food Network Goes Hollywood!!

    It was bound to happen. After having a taste of the pate de canard en croute that is celebrity, the cocksure cuisinier at the Food Network have decided it is time for a mass leap onto the silver screen. With the help of our intricate network of spies, Epic Portions has been able to get a glimpse of the plot outlines in the works for these dinner time divas. It is our pleasure to share them with you, our loyal readers. Does Oscar beckon our culinary heroes, or will they crash harder than Emeril on NBC? Time will tell, but you may judge the potential of these films for yourself.

    Man on Fieri

    We’re rollin’ out to Mexico!  While eating lunch during a vacation, Guy jumps behind the counter and heads to the kitchen to tell the cook that his tamale was money. Unfortunately, several members of the Mexican Mafia at the restaurant overhear him yelling “Dinero! Dinero!” at the cook and decide to kidnap the crazy looking and eccentric gringo. Upon hearing of Guy’s kidnapping, fellow Food Network Star winner Aaron McCargo goes beserk and destroys half of Mexico rescuing Guy and bringing him back to safety. Directed by Michael Bay.

    Requiem for a Deen

    A venture into the dramatic for Paula Deen, Requiem for a Deen tells the story of a woman so riddled with an addiction to butter that she is forced to engage in unspeakable acts just to feed her habit. During the climactic downward spiral into delusion and depravity, Paula holds a charity bake sale using margarine because she freebased the 10 sticks of butter she was supposed to use to make her pecan chewies.

    Evil Bread: Bread by Dawn

    Chef Robert Irvine is faced with his greatest challenge ever. Only able to use the contents of a dumpster behind a Subway and two EZ-Bake Ovens, Chef Robert is supposed to bake enough bread for the Michigan State football team’s annual banquet. Realizing he will need supernatural help to complete his task, he resorts to reading from the “Cookbook of the Dead,” causing the release of evil spirits, not the least of which is a severed hand that attacks him during a thrilling scene where Chef Robert slays his possessed sous chef with a cheese grater. To deal with the severed hand, Chef Robert launches into a verbal tirade so viscous, so devastating, that the hand gives up and gets put to work kneading the dough, helping Chef Robert complete his task by dawn.

    Super Molto Mario

    Help! Princess Giada has been kidnapped by the evil Bobby Flay! Watch as Mario Batali powers up on porcini mushrooms and battles Bobby’s evil minions, played by Seth Rogan and Bill Heder. After Mario defeats them and several other monsters, an uncredited Anthony Bourdain shows up with some “special” mushrooms to help Mario. Tony’s special shrooms give Mario the wisdom to give up and let Bobby keep Giada, where he forces her to become a kitchen test cook for Throwdown.

    Ray

    Ray is an inspiring biopic starring the effervescent and effusive Rachael Ray. It tells the amazing story of how one person overcame the debilitating handicap of being extremely annoying to forge a multi-million dollar media empire.

    Cocktail II: Cougar Patrol

    Yes, its Cocktail time as Sandra Lee stars in the only authorized sequel of the bunch. After microwaving a bunch of stuff and calling it a cooking show, Food Network execs give Sandra the pink slip, leaving her unemployed. She decides to leave the hectic food scene of NYC to head for the Bahamas to work as a bartender. There she finds romantic fun and sun, headlined by torrid affairs with a vacationing college student played by Twilight star Robert Pattinson, and a local medical intern played by Shia LeBeouf. Will Sandra decide to stay with the younger, fun-loving Robert, the brilliant (but passionate!) Shia, or embrace romance with the easy-going humor of the bar owner played by Matthew McConaughey?

    Ina Garten Cop

    Tired of being forced to have the most boring show on Food Network, Ina Garten makes a career change, just in time to stop a terrorist (portrayed by the guy who played Samir in Office Space) hell-bent on destroying her neighbor P. Diddy’s mansion.  Along with her partner, a normally undercover vice cop played by James Franco, Ina has to stop the plot and make lobster ravioli for Jeffrey before the terrorist blows up Diddy’s mansion, setting off a destructive “doomsday device” that will trigger the end of the world.

    Tyler Perry’s I Can Do BBQ All By Myself

    Watch out Gina! When sassy Sunny Anderson moves in next door, Gina’s long lost Grandmother Madea is afraid she will try to seduce Pat, all while Gina is working overtime to prepare for the big church barbecue. It turns out that Sunny is there to help Gina, as she discovers the church barbecue is a ruse by Bobby Flay to show up and challenge Gina to a barbecue throwdown. As Gina and Sunny prepare to defeat Bobby, the competition never takes place after Madea beats him over the head with a meat tenderizer when he shows up with plum glazed pork ribs for the throwdown.

  • The 2010 Krispy Kreme Challenge – Raleigh, NC

    Welcome to the end, and the beginning, of your diet.

    So last weekend was the 2010 Krispy Kreme Challenge, a race in Raleigh, NC where 6,000 racers compete to scarf more than 72,000 glazed donuts and RUN 4 MILES to raise more money for the NC Children’s Hospital.

    This is now one of the most famous and hilarious eating races in the Nation:

    The Krispy Kreme Challenge started in December 2004 as a dare between a few North Carolina State undergraduate students. Sophomore Ben Gaddy took home bragging rights that afternoon, running the race in 34 minutes and 27 seconds. After receiving positive coverage from campus news papers and being placed as #85 on the “102 More Things You Gotta Do Before You Graduate” by Sports Illustrated. On Campus, organizers decided to publicize the Krispy Kreme Challenge and turn it into something that would not only be an event to bring together people from all over the country, but also to benefit an important cause along the way.  It was no surprise, when organizers selected The NC Children’s Hospital as the most deserving beneficiary of this ultimate collegiate challenge.

    A couple of friend’s raced and one actually placed in the top 300 competitors! I did not participate because I’ve seen a video showing what happens when you run 2 miles with 12 donuts in your belly (those of you that have done the dairy challenge may feel me) and I read this article.

    If you’re racing competitively (Challenger division), here is the race:

    1. Run 2 miles.
    2. Eat 1 dozen donuts
    3. Run 2 more miles
    4. Don’t throw up
    5. Do steps 1-4 in under 1 hour.

    Ah…#4 and #5 – that’s the painful part. Congratulations to all those that took part! Especially those that dressed up!

    Here is a video taken by some friends – notice all the folks standing around eating donuts. Delicious Krispy Kreme Donuts, made fresh right here in the Great State of North Carolina.


    Could you do it?