Shaping up to be one of the many highlights of the Bangalow Show is the Big Bang Bite competition, being held at the Village Green at 2.30pm on Saturday, 15 November. Christobel Munson gets the lowdown from contestants, already in training for this attention grabbing event.
How long would it take you to gobble down an “old fashioned” 130 gm beef burger with the lot (meaning beetroot, lettuce, tomato, carrot, pineapple, bacon, egg, caramelised onion and cheese, tomato relish and mayonnaise), a 500ml chocolate thick shake, and a side order of chips?
That’s what the contestants in the Bangalow Show’s Big Bang Bite competition have lined up to do every year since 2011. Though popular with enthusiastic onlookers, only a dozen or so seasoned scoffers are brave enough to enter. The youngest recorded entrant in previous comps was just eight years old – generally this event is most popular with hungry hollow-legged teenagers, with a few brave adults also trying their luck. It’s also far more popular with boys than girls. “There’s always a good turnout,” says Tim Jung, owner of the Bang Burger Bar which provides the burgers on the day – and throughout the year.
This year, his sous chef, Tim Faggotter, will not only host the event, circulating the Show “loud and proud” in the preceding hours to rustle up interest and scout for new entrants, but he’ll enter the competition too. So, Tim Jung has created a new challenge: ‘Beat the Chef’. Tim Faggotter has already been in training for some weeks and has his time down to just under three minutes – though that’s only to eat the burger, not slurp down the thick shake and gobble up the chips. (The usual length of time it takes to down the lot is around five minutes.)
Early in October, five entrants had already signed up, but you have until 11.30am on the Saturday to register. Apart from bragging rights, the winner receives $50 and a stylish rosette, which is to be worn as a badge of honour for the rest of the day.
Next door to the Bang Burger Bar is the popular bottle shop, The Cellar Bangalow. Two employees there are already in training for this event. Jack Taylor, who recently moved to the area from Singapore, is a rugby player and a boxer, so is a big eater yearround. He’s dead serious about his intent to win. “I’m not here to be average,” the 18-year-old says. His secret to winning? Not eating breakfast or lunch before the event.
At the best of times, carnivore Jack eats four meals a day, and a month out from the competition, has his time at three minutes and 45 seconds – and that’s just for the burger. He suspects that he may put on weight while he’s in training, and being offseason, that weight may hang around. But Jack considers it’s worth it. At the risk of informing the competition of his technique, he says his winning strategy is this: “I have big hands. I’ll squish down the burger and chips with one hand, and have the thick shake in the other, so one hand is always at the ready. I’ve been in training to win this competition my whole life!”
Feature image: Past contestants, Shane Olive and Mitch Hutchison, giving the Big Bang Bite a red hot go Photo Maralyn Hanigan