The place: An unknown office in the Chicago area
The date: Late September 2009
The event: The birth of an American Hero
How many among us have made the claim that we could eat nothing but pizza for the rest of our lives? I certainly have on more than one occasion, and the typical responses range from silence to mild amusement. Occasionally, someone calls me out, which leads to immediate backtracking on my part. Nobody, I reason, could actually eat nothing but pizza. No human being, I think to myself, could possibly be that great. It turns out, such a person may well exist.
At the end of last month, a man who for now wishes to remain anonymous, bragged of his pizza devotion one too many times for one of his business partners, a guy who goes by the online name Ronnie_Suburban and is one of the moderators of LTH Forum, a great Chicago-centric food website. Ronnie called out his partner, expecting that he would back down and admit he was being hyperbolic. But this great man, this anonymous American hero, refused to give in.
The result: Beginning on October 1, our pizza loving friend has a significant wager backing the claim that he will eat sausage pizza, and nothing but sausage pizza, every time he eats in the month of October.
Not sausage pizza as part of every snack and meal, but sausage pizza for every snack and meal. Nothing else, not even a Tic Tac. Other toppings are allowed in addition to sausage, and sauce is optional, but every pie must have crust, cheese, and sausage (a category deemed to include a couple other meats like pepperoni and gyros, but not ground beef). He is allowed to drink, but not substantial beverages like shakes and smoothies.
Our hero wishes to remain anonymous, so if you happen to recognize him from his photo, please do not mention his name in the comments. Perhaps if people show him appropriate respect and awe, he will reveal himself. In the meantime, you can follow his progress on this thread on LTH Forum, where Ronnie_Suburban is providing regular updates.
Anyone out there think they can eat nothing but pizza for a month? And still love pizza when they are done?
Wow. For the entire month of April for the past 3 years I've eaten pizza every single day (http://www.pizzarules.com/pizza-month/), but I didn't go as far as to eat NOTHING ELSE.
This is inspirational, and is now making me consider stepping it up next year. It would be tricky if I try to stick to my rule of eating at a different place every time though.
He should really reconsider. I think he is in for serious health problems after a couple of weeks, since all he will be eating is starchy carbs and protein. much like the guy who did McDonalds for a month.
Well, and I hope this is not TMI but after just a few days of eating nothing but pizza (and other cheese/meat/carb-based foods) and being in great pain - I hope for the sake of his own poo that he does not strictly stick to this... or that he drinks a shit-ton of coffee...
No biggie at all. Talk about becoming famous for nothing. I'm surprised Paris Hilton didn't think of this first.The trick to this thing would be eating bad pizza for a month, I mean really bad, and it would have to be while circling the Earth! If the pizza was decent to good six months to a year seems to be a more reasonable test, assuming you could change up the toppings so you could get your veggies!
@graciecat: That's what I was thinking, too, when I read this. I think he should amend his diet to allow for prunes. Or at least have a sausage-and-prune slice at least once a day.
BTW, this guy is my hero. I would love to do this for every lunch and dinner for a month, but not breakfast (you will pry my high fiber breakfast from my cold dead hands). The problem for me is that (A) I no longer live in Chicagoland and (B) the expense would be horrific.
@graciecat and Adam: One of the rules is that he can't add anything to the pizzas - ingredients must be cooked with the pies. So unless he finds a place that offers prunes as an ingredient, that's not an option. Of course, there are no rules against him asking for sausage with a quadruple helping of tomatoes, but inventive ways to get fiber onto the pizza isn't really necessary though because...
@Garvey: Metamucil is allowed as long as it's not in lieu of eating pizza.
Sure this is doable - (but not if I'd want to love pizza at the end of the month.) He just has to put lots of veggies on most of his pizzas, some pineapple occasionally (hey, he needs some fruit), and sometimes minimize the cheese. Is he allowed to make his own pizza? If he plans carefully and chooses pizzas that aren't drowning in cheese and extra olive oil this doesn't need to be worse for him than, say, a sandwich or sub every meal.
There are probably people reading this who have bread of some sort with every meal already. If I were doing this I wouldn't eat very much pizza at a time, but there doesn't seem to be a rule about how much he has to eat.
Caramalized onions instead of sauce is a good bet occasionally. (A bed of Italian beans instead of sauce is also a winner - believe it or not).
I also want to add that I think he will be tired of pizza after this month! He will probably crave a good cheeseburger or steak, hell maybe even some chicken wings!
Yes! Another observer. I love it when people celebrate pizza month eating pizza everyday. Whether they do it with me or by themselves, there is no more delicious way to enjoy October. I've been doing this since 2002 (http://www.31daysofpizza.com) and am excited to see people do the same. This guy eating nothing but sausage pizza is quite extreme. I definitely have gone plenty of days eating only pizza but putting that restriction is fun in the beginning but by about now (mid-month) I think his significant other and friends are going to be a bit tired of it. No non-pizza dates, no spontaneous snacks, no popcorn at the movies, no peanuts or wings while watching the game, no ice cream to cleanse the palate. Sure, he can toss some of this stuff on a nearby sausage pizza but, in my experience, the sausage-pizza-everyday won't be the problem, the ONLY-sausage-pizza-everyday will make him pretty unfun to be around. I am curious though. I'll check out Ronnie_Suburban to see how he's doing. Happy Pizza Month, everyone!
@Sean: As I mentioned above in the comments, adding things to an already cooked pizza is not allowed, so there will be wings or anything else tossed on after the fact. Our hero's wife and kids seem to be unaffected by his devotion to pizza.
He had a dinner out at a nice restaurant that only sells a couple of pizza appetizers, only one of which has sausage. While his wife had a full meal, he had the one sausage appetizer pizza on the menu and a second off-menu one that the restaurant made upon learning of his bet.
More recently, he was at a conference for work and he drank water at a large meal where everyone else feasted on prime rib before retiring to his room for some take-out pizza.
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14 Comments:
Wow. For the entire month of April for the past 3 years I've eaten pizza every single day (http://www.pizzarules.com/pizza-month/), but I didn't go as far as to eat NOTHING ELSE.
This is inspirational, and is now making me consider stepping it up next year. It would be tricky if I try to stick to my rule of eating at a different place every time though.
nicksherman at 7:22PM on 10/09/09
He should really reconsider. I think he is in for serious health problems after a couple of weeks, since all he will be eating is starchy carbs and protein. much like the guy who did McDonalds for a month.
pizzafreak at 7:55PM on 10/09/09
a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do... lol
leyway at 1:17AM on 10/10/09
Well, and I hope this is not TMI but after just a few days of eating nothing but pizza (and other cheese/meat/carb-based foods) and being in great pain - I hope for the sake of his own poo that he does not strictly stick to this... or that he drinks a shit-ton of coffee...
graciecat at 3:00AM on 10/10/09
No biggie at all. Talk about becoming famous for nothing. I'm surprised Paris Hilton didn't think of this first.The trick to this thing would be eating bad pizza for a month, I mean really bad, and it would have to be while circling the Earth! If the pizza was decent to good six months to a year seems to be a more reasonable test, assuming you could change up the toppings so you could get your veggies!
Pizzarotti at 2:08PM on 10/10/09
@graciecat: That's what I was thinking, too, when I read this. I think he should amend his diet to allow for prunes. Or at least have a sausage-and-prune slice at least once a day.
Adam Kuban at 11:51AM on 10/11/09
One word: Metamucil.
BTW, this guy is my hero. I would love to do this for every lunch and dinner for a month, but not breakfast (you will pry my high fiber breakfast from my cold dead hands). The problem for me is that (A) I no longer live in Chicagoland and (B) the expense would be horrific.
Garvey at 12:01PM on 10/11/09
I forgot to add: nice Dave Duerson jersey.
(j/k: I know it's prolly Forte.)
Garvey at 12:04PM on 10/11/09
@graciecat and Adam: One of the rules is that he can't add anything to the pizzas - ingredients must be cooked with the pies. So unless he finds a place that offers prunes as an ingredient, that's not an option. Of course, there are no rules against him asking for sausage with a quadruple helping of tomatoes, but inventive ways to get fiber onto the pizza isn't really necessary though because...
@Garvey: Metamucil is allowed as long as it's not in lieu of eating pizza.
Daniel Zemans at 11:55PM on 10/11/09
Sure this is doable - (but not if I'd want to love pizza at the end of the month.) He just has to put lots of veggies on most of his pizzas, some pineapple occasionally (hey, he needs some fruit), and sometimes minimize the cheese. Is he allowed to make his own pizza? If he plans carefully and chooses pizzas that aren't drowning in cheese and extra olive oil this doesn't need to be worse for him than, say, a sandwich or sub every meal.
There are probably people reading this who have bread of some sort with every meal already. If I were doing this I wouldn't eat very much pizza at a time, but there doesn't seem to be a rule about how much he has to eat.
Caramalized onions instead of sauce is a good bet occasionally. (A bed of Italian beans instead of sauce is also a winner - believe it or not).
lemonfair at 7:58AM on 10/12/09
Sounds good to me! Since he can add things, this is very doable.
There is great pizza to be had at lots of places so I think he'll be fine!
jlewfoodie at 7:13PM on 10/12/09
I also want to add that I think he will be tired of pizza after this month! He will probably crave a good cheeseburger or steak, hell maybe even some chicken wings!
jlewfoodie at 7:45PM on 10/12/09
Yes! Another observer. I love it when people celebrate pizza month eating pizza everyday. Whether they do it with me or by themselves, there is no more delicious way to enjoy October. I've been doing this since 2002 (http://www.31daysofpizza.com) and am excited to see people do the same. This guy eating nothing but sausage pizza is quite extreme. I definitely have gone plenty of days eating only pizza but putting that restriction is fun in the beginning but by about now (mid-month) I think his significant other and friends are going to be a bit tired of it. No non-pizza dates, no spontaneous snacks, no popcorn at the movies, no peanuts or wings while watching the game, no ice cream to cleanse the palate. Sure, he can toss some of this stuff on a nearby sausage pizza but, in my experience, the sausage-pizza-everyday won't be the problem, the ONLY-sausage-pizza-everyday will make him pretty unfun to be around. I am curious though. I'll check out Ronnie_Suburban to see how he's doing. Happy Pizza Month, everyone!
sean_taylor at 12:47PM on 10/14/09
@Sean: As I mentioned above in the comments, adding things to an already cooked pizza is not allowed, so there will be wings or anything else tossed on after the fact. Our hero's wife and kids seem to be unaffected by his devotion to pizza.
He had a dinner out at a nice restaurant that only sells a couple of pizza appetizers, only one of which has sausage. While his wife had a full meal, he had the one sausage appetizer pizza on the menu and a second off-menu one that the restaurant made upon learning of his bet.
More recently, he was at a conference for work and he drank water at a large meal where everyone else feasted on prime rib before retiring to his room for some take-out pizza.
Daniel Zemans at 1:13PM on 10/14/09