We live in an age of competitive masochism. Dudes (it's mostly dudes) are always trying to outdo each other in feats of physical self-abuse. We also live in an era of food fanaticism. People are getting all worked up about their small-batch bacon, their boutique chocolates, their locally-sourced pickles and shit. And we also live in a web-enabled exhibitionist free-for-all. Give some people some digi-cams and they're going to be filming some stupid behavior. And it's gonna involve food. And certain gastro-intestinal distress. It's pretty much Jackass meets Mario Batali. Plus we're Americans, and we're proud of how bad our eating habits are. It's almost an inalienable right to be going for the gout. High caloric intake is a final frontier. Welcome to the world of YouTube extreme eating. It's not pretty. Deep fried waffle fries with bacon and bourbon anyone?