{"id":3204,"date":"2010-02-13T07:06:01","date_gmt":"2010-02-13T05:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=3204"},"modified":"2015-03-23T08:54:02","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T12:54:02","slug":"rebels-without-a-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/rebels-without-a-cause\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebels Without a Cause"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to admit,\u00a0I’m\u00a0a little bemused by this\u00a0“food fight”\u00a0– as reported by the Sun Sentinel <\/a>–\u00a0between the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, AZ and the Heart Stoppers Sports Grill in Delray Beach, FL.\u00a0 The owners of the two restaurants\u00a0are\u00a0duking it out \u00a0over who “owns” the right to serve up massive amounts of unhealthy, fat-and-calorie-laden\u00a0food, in an atmosphere that pokes light-hearted fun at… being in an intensive care unit.<\/p>\n

Based on\u00a0the info in the article, it seems to me that\u00a0the Heart Attack Grill has a pretty good case.\u00a0\u00a0The differences between the H.A.G (the original) and Heart Stoppers appear to be pretty superficial, so – in the end – I expect Jon Basso (the H.A.G’s owner) will emerge victorious from the fray.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, it’s hard for me to feel any sympathy for either party involved. From where I sit,\u00a0the entire concept these restaurants are based on is repulsive.\u00a0\u00a0The underlying attitude is that\u00a0dying from lifestyle-related diseases is a joke.\u00a0That\u00a0grown men\u00a0would\u00a0fight\u00a0over the right to market this particular “idea” is really sort of grotesque.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0“freak show” angle was\u00a0reinforced\u00a0farther down in the\u00a0article:<\/p>\n

While the Heart Attack\/Heart Stoppers dispute winds its way through court, each seems to have tapped into a fascination with overeating and unabashedly high-calorie foods.<\/p>\n

“There’s a rebellion against gourmet restaurants and healthy food establishments,” Kain said. “And that’s why there’s so much interest on television.”‘<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Travel Channel’s Man v. Food<\/em> comes to Shula’s Steak House in Miami Beach for a live episode. Host Adam Richman, who travels the country in search of regional foods and then challenges himself to break eating records, will attempt to consume a 48-ounce porterhouse.<\/p>\n

On the Food Network, Guy Fieri has become famous for showcasing some of the country’s most high-calorie food on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives<\/em>. ESPN’s live broadcast of the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest is an Independence Day staple.<\/p>\n

It’s created a new kind of foodie, folks who go out of their way to sample high-fat fare wherever they go.<\/p>\n

Here in South Florida, blogger Sef Gonzalez eats his way across the region as The Burger Beast. He’s eaten everything from the Big Sloppy (he gives it 5 out of 5 stars) at Charm City Burger Company in Deerfield Beach to The Heart Attacker half-pounder (3 1\/2 out of 5) at Heart Stoppers.<\/p>\n

“At some point, everyone retaliates against something,” said Gonzalez. “Every time you turn on the news \u2014 which is probably why I don’t watch the news \u2014 it’s ‘This is good for you!’ and ‘This is bad for you.’ Sometimes you should just throw everything out the window and eat what you want.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do tell.\u00a0In Sef Gonzalez’s case, he looks like he’s\u00a0on track\u00a0to “retaliate” his way into a real intensive care unit – which is neither cute nor ha-ha-ha funny,\u00a0despite what Heart Stoppers and the Heart Attack Grill pretend.<\/p>\n

People can eat what they want – I, for one, have no plans to try to stop them.\u00a0 But there’s something seriously twisted about the notion that gluttony = liberation from some sort of oppressive health regime. If that’s what joints like\u00a0Heart Stoppers and the Heart Attack\u00a0Grill are selling, then I ain’t buying.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If this is what “rebellion” looks like, then the people who operate, patronize – and above all – lionize\u00a0these establishments\u00a0(and overeating in general) are\u00a0rebels without a cause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have to admit,\u00a0I’m\u00a0a little bemused by this\u00a0“food fight”\u00a0– as reported by the Sun Sentinel –\u00a0between the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, AZ and the Heart Stoppers Sports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,28],"tags":[842,1863,1235,1236,1397,1434],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10099,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204\/revisions\/10099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}