Overeating for a good cause
NEW YORK - It was a Thanksgiving meal for 10, but Tim Janus devoured it alone in 15 minutes as part of a public-relations stunt to draw attention to New York’s hungry.
“What’s so important about today is that it begins to fill my stomach up and I can now leave a little more for everybody else,” Janus said after consuming a 10-pound turkey, four pounds of mashed potatoes, three pounds of cranberry sauce and 2-½ pounds of beans.
And he still had room for dessert: an entire pumpkin pie.
Janus - a Major League Eater champion who holds world titles in cannolis, marshmallow Peeps and tiramisu - said the league was donating $6,000 to the Food Bank for New York City, a sum that will provide 30,000 meals. The league gave $4,000 to Second Harvest food bank last week.
According to the Food Bank for New York City Web site, 1.3 million New Yorkers turn to food pantries and soup kitchens to keep from going hungry, a 24 percent rise from 2004.