Not everyone was a fan of the waffle-eating showdown that took place between San Jose’s Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie during Sunday’s San Jose Barracuda hockey game.
San Jose resident Loui Tucker says neither Chestnut, Stonie nor any other competitive “over-eaters” should be glorified, especially as San Jose’s homeless problem forces people to choose between paying rent and buying food. “We have children on free and reduced lunch programs because their families don’t make enough money to feed them,” she wrote. “It is plainly immoral to be lauding people who eat huge amounts of food for prizes.”
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Sharon Tyler suggested I refrain from writing about such contests in the future and concentrate instead on how to help hungry people. Ken Colson, who volunteers with a San Jose-based nonprofit that runs a school in Cambodia, agreed. “That we, the overly affluent, make a game of eating food smacks of insensitivity for those lacking enough food,” he wrote.
Hunger and food insecurity are definitely problems both here in the Bay Area and around the world, and there are also a large number of people in our region who have dedicated themselves toward combating that problem. And while I cringe watching competitive eating contests — hot dogs and waffles should be savored, not devoured by the dozen — I don’t think their existence exacerbates the hunger problem. But you’ve got the right to dislike them and to voice that opinion, too. There’s no doubt that conspicuous consumption — on many levels beyond waffles — is a dubious hallmark of our society.
Now, for those interested in how the contest at SAP Center turned out, Chestnut squeaked out a victory by consuming 81 waffles in eight minutes to Stonie’s 75. Barracuda in-arena host Tanya Dubrul set the women’s record — it was the first time the contest was held — with 6. And the Barracuda snapped a six-game losing streak that night to beat Tucson 7-1, so even if you didn’t like the waffle contest, there was something to cheer about.
Unless, of course, you don’t like hockey, and let’s not even get started about that.
CURTAIN CALLS: Ready or not, it’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas — at least on South Bay stages. Palo Alto Players opened its production of “A Christmas Story: The Musical” on Nov. 8, and at last Sunday’s performance the cast was treated to a visit by Johnny Rabe, who originated the role of Ralphie on Broadway in 2012 and is now attending Stanford. The show runs at the Lucie Stern Theater through Sunday. Get tickets at paplayers.org.
Meanwhile, San Jose’s City Lights Theater Company opened “The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley,” Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon‘s companion piece/sequel to “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” which City Lights produced in 2017. Both are continuations of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” and, based on the audience’s reaction at Saturday night’s opening, people would be thrilled if Gunderson and Melcon made it a trilogy. The show runs through Dec. 15, though I wouldn’t be surprised at an extension, and tickets are available at www.cltc.org.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that San Jose’s Northside Theatre Company — which continues to bounce back from the Coyote Creek flood in 2017 that damaged its theater — opens its 37th production of “A Christmas Carol” on Dec. 6. Northside founder Richard Orlando‘s adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ classic runs through Dec. 24. Get tickets at www.northsidetheatre.com.
