Here in America, where liberty has led to unprecedented human flourishing and insane food supply, "All-You-Can-Eat" is a solemn guarantee, even if it means you're sending your 700-pound self into an extremely early grave.
In China, it seems one does not have that luxury:
A Chinese food live-streamer says he has been blacklisted from a grill buffet restaurant for eating too much.
The man, known only as Mr Kang, told Hunan TV that he was banned from the Handadi Seafood BBQ Buffet in Changsha city after a series of binges.
He ate 1.5kg of pork trotters during his first visit and 3.5kg to 4kg of prawns on another visit, he said.
Mr Kang said the restaurant is "discriminatory" against people who can eat a lot.
If you're wondering, yes, "pork trotters" are pig's feet, meaning this dude ate TWO POUNDS of pig's feet on his first visit to the restaurant, ALONG WITH 8 POUNDS OF JUMBO SHRIMP.
And he was livestreaming this!
What type of weirdos watch gluttons slurp down vats of food as a form of entertainment??
This is my fav statement in the whole thing:
"I can eat a lot - is that a fault?" he said, adding that he didn't waste any of the food.
The restaurant owner was quick to defend his actions, saying he lost a few hundred yuan, or around $50 USD, every time the dude showed up.
"Even when he drinks soy milk, he can drink 20 or 30 bottles. When he eats the pork trotters, he consumes the whole tray of them. And for prawns, usually people use tongs to pick them up, he uses a tray to take them all."
The story has been allowed to go wildly viral in China (nothing ever "goes viral" on its own in a police state), probably because the government-controlled media wants people to shame the dude.
Why, you ask?
Well, in case you haven't studied any of 20th-century history, communist regimes inevitably face food shortages, and China is facing one now.
Last year the Chinese government started cracking down on eating influencers, and such videos may be banned altogether in the country.
It came after President Xi Jinping called on people to "fight against food waste" amid rising concerns over food shortages.
Not good!
Anyway, if you'll excuse me, this has made me hungry for a helping of Chinese food... sans the pig's feet.
