In The Battle of Man Vs. Food - We Win!

Adam Richman

If you love eating food, watching food and watching other people eat food – This is the show for you! The Travel Channels’ Man Vs. Food is unstoppable. But first, let me tell you a little secret, you’re going to want to sit down for this one, I… have never had cable. (Pause for gasps).

You could only imagine the joy I experienced when I first moved out on my own (Ok, the second time I moved out on my own) and got cable! Especially now since I have nothing else to do but write and watch TV.  It’s needless to say that the Travel Channel is one of my favorite channels, and this show is a big part of the why.

Man Vs. Food premiered December 3, 2008 on the Travel challenge and is all about a guy named Adam Richman who travels the country to find the most unique dishes and explore the local culture. Adam faces different types of eating challenges at local restaurants, from ultra hot dishes to incredible amounts for food that he has to eat, with a time limit or without. From a massive 2-gallon sundae heaped with 8 softball-sized scoops of ice cream to the Firebrand Chili Challenge. Adam Richman will eat anything for the sake of television.

Adam Richman began his superstar life on May 16, 1974 in Brooklyn, New York. And don’t think that food is the only thing he can do, Adam got his undergraduate degree in International Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and earned a master’s degree from the Yale School of Drama (Not bad for a TV personality).

Richman’s passion for food has always been there, he held numerous restaurant jobs from the front to the back of the kitchen and kept a journal of the best food joints he has had the pleasure of visiting. Man Vs. Food was not Adam’s first gig, he had the chance to guest star on shows like on The Guiding Light, All My Children, Law & Order and a funny portrayal of God as a butcher on Joan of Arcadia. But don’t think of Adam as a fame loving food man, while interviewing with another one of travel channels best, Andrew Zimmerman, Adam stated the following:

At some point within the last handful of years though, I just really began to take stock in two philosophies – one of my Dad’s old maxims about life, “This Ain’t No Dress Rehearsal.” And the Samurai Bushido’s principal of making a decision about anything within the span of seven breaths. I acknowledge the outward-seeming esoteric, hippie-dippyosity of this, but in truth, I just combined them both and now approach actions, travel, people, food challenges with a sort of “suck the marrow out of the moment” philosophy. I strive to throw myself into whatever situation with a kind of committed, focused abandon. And I have to tell you — it’s sooooo cool. But I’m not a competitive eater and have no aspirations to be. That’s kinda the point — I’m just a dude who loves traditional food and likes to eat and travel.

The million dollar question – How does he tackle the food filled challenges? Richman exercises twice a day while he’s on the road, he does not eat the day before a challenge and he tries to stay hydrated by drinking a lot of water or club soda. He regularly gets his cholesterol, liver enzymes and blood lipids checked when not on the road. And after ending each taping he spends an hour on the treadmill.