KFC recently announced the arrival of their freshly greased Double Down sandwich – where the bun has been replaced by two fried chicken patties – leaving aghast consumers questioning if we had finally gone too far and reached a new pinnacle in extreme eating. While we may be trending towards extremism, the quest for the most over-indulgent, indigestion-inducing burger has been around as for long as burgers themselves.

“We’ve been serving our Monster Burger for 50 years,” said Red Top owner Peter Scouras. “It’s six patties on a bun with all of the fixings.”

Scouras said that the Monster weighs in at 2.5 pounds and once it’s piled with onions, lettuce, pickles, tomato and cheese it gets up to three pounds.   
     
Other local favourites include Ham-N-Eggs’ Quadruple-Bypass Burger, which is a four-patty burger you can down – maybe – for $7.95. This over-the-top creation is usurped only by the five-patty Terminator burger, with each patty weighing in at a quarter-pound. This is served with bacon, cheese, coleslaw and fries.

“ You always get one person who comes in and says ‘I want to order the biggest thing on the menu.’

Al Friend, Ham-N-Eggs

Owner Al Friend said he only introduced these burgers three years ago.

“You always get one person who comes in and says ‘I want to order the biggest thing on the menu.’ These burgers cater to them. They aren’t our biggest sellers. That would be the double bacon and cheese.”

Accounting for our binge-lust is puzzling given the burgeoning North American diet culture. Coverage given to the so-called obesity epidemic is at least matched by coverage of celebrity diets and novel ways to attain slimness. However, the two phenomena may be related.

“When we are told we can’t have something we want, we want it even more” said nutritionist Jorie Janzen. “It becomes all we think about until we eventually cave. And when we cave we overdo it.”

Janzen said in an e-mail that the prevalence of restriction-based eating leads not only to fetishism of greasy foods, but also weight-gain in the long-run as it “plays havoc with our metabolism,” which further feeds the culture of extremes.

Thankfully – or not – feasting occasionally is probably the best overall eating strategy, so don’t be afraid to enjoy three pounds of pure satisfaction – sometimes.

“Most of us over-indulge some of the time,” said Janzen. “[Hitting] the drive-thru once a week is no big deal… I am going to tell you what you don’t want to hear. It’s about moderation.”

Published in Volume 64, Number 2 of The Uniter (September 10, 2009)