Taco Del Mar 5 Pound Burrito Challenge

Three weeks ago, I noticed a Twitter post from one of our loyal followers, @michaeldinn, talking about a 5 lb burrito challenge at Taco Del Mar - which recently set up shop at 1526 Dresden Row in the old Quiznos spot. They were looking for another challenger, so J stepped up to the plate.

The rules: 30 minutes to eat a 5 lbs of beef, cheese, beans, rice, pico and tortillas. That's about it.

There wasn't much strategy involved. Having watched plenty of Man vs Food, the goal was to eat fast and mix up the flavours a bit by adding hot sauce every once in a while. I also ate a very light breakfast (watermelon and water), and took the stairs at work all morning in an effort to build up my hunger.

This sucker was made up of FOUR tortillas. I chose to go with all three varieties (tomato, spinach, white and whole wheat as a means to try and mix up the flavours.

Next, they added sour cream, 4.5 scoops of rice, a bunch of pinto beans, four scoops of cheese, four scopes of pico de gallo and some salsa. Then they wrapped it up and made me sign a waiver. Seriously. Needless to say, it was HUGE.

There were three other challengers - Colin and Tim from local radio station Energy 103, and Dal Med student Leo. That's J there in the luchador mask. Yep.

Leo started off strong and made it quite far, but hit the wall. Tim went at a quick pace. Colin and I were mostly just there for comic relief. I was pretty hungry and kept chugging along to the best of my ability, but still not having fully recovered from a bout of Bell's Palsy a few months back, it was hard to keep up. That, and the mask slowed me down a bit, too.

I applied hot sauce every once in a while to keep my taste buds interested, and around the 20 minute mark, I switched from water to iced tea. With five minutes to go, I knew I had about a pound left and there wasn't much hope. I took a few extra bites but I finished with 13 oz of burrito goodness left on my plate. Tim managed to scarf it all back with seconds to spare and Leo squished the last bit into his mouth as time expired. Colin…well…he gave it the old college try!

I'm disappointed to have failed in my effort to take down this challenge, but I'll give it a shot again…someday…maybe…yeah, ok, probably not, but it was fun (and quite tasty!)

Thanks to Justin and the team at Taco Del Mar for the invitation to participate, and for providing some gift certificates for our 2,000th Twitter Follower giveaway. Congrats to @richyule @Shawnamac_ @nsdebbi & @thasmoke!

Now I need a nap...