Top Eating Challenges You Have to Do When in America

America is not a nation known for its small portions and throughout the country there are opportunities for visitors and locals alike to take on renowned eating challenges. Some of them are based purely on quantity, such as stacks of burgers or bowls of fries, whereas others are all about spice, challenging diners to eat foods cooked and coated in the hottest chilli sauces available. Either way, although many of these experiences cause more pain than pleasure to the diner, they draw large numbers of competitors, lured in by the notoriety and often sizeable prizes offered to any successful challenger. These 'Man vs. Food' experiences can be found across the United States and Florida and the Tampa Bay area in particular, is no exception.

FAN VS. FOOD

The Tropicana Field Brewhouse is the most popular eatery amongst Tampa Bay Rays fans and it is easy to see why. Not only is it located close to the stadium, but it is also home to the daunting Fan vs. Food challenge. Rated the "Number One Thing Every Floridian Should Try", this epic meal involves a diner eating a two pound burger, complete with four 8oz beef patties, sixteen rashers of bacon and four slices of cheese, all together in a bun and served with a pound of fries and all within thirty minutes. Sounds tough, but the prize is a worthy reward   two tickets to the Rays game.

INFERNO SOUP

Nitally's Thai Mex Cuisine has a great menu all round, but there is one dish that attracts more attention than others. The Inferno is an Asian soup made with the absolutely mind-blowing heat of ghost peppers. It costs $50 to take part, but the prize for successful completion is $1,000! To put the chances of success in perspective, so far, 90 people have attempted the 48oz serving and none have succeeded. If you want a go, you'll need to be quick   the offer ends after the 100th attempt.

HERCULES CHALLENGE

If sheer volume of meat is the type of challenge that appeals to you, you need look no further than the Hercules Challenge at Gyro King. Unlike the other challenges here, you are not expected to tackle this one alone, but even between you and your eating buddy, getting through a twelve-pound gyro in an hour isn't going to be easy, as shown by the complete lack of successful participants to date. It costs $75 to take part and there is $500 for any 'winners'.

DAVY JONES' WINGS CHALLENGE

This one is all about heat and is so infamous that it has even featured on 'Man vs. Food Nation'. It involves consuming ten chicken wings doused in a searing hot habanera pepper sauce, all within half an hour. It's an intense one to be sure, but there have at least been a handful of hotheaded champions to date.

SIX-POUND CHALLENGE

The Frontier Steakhouse Cattle Company has a menu, which is entirely delightful to beef fans but no dish more so than the six-pound challenge that sees diners tackle a six-pound steak, baked potato and salad, all of which has to be consumed in 75 minutes. If you want an even tougher challenge, try to beat the current record of 32 minutes.

Overall, the Tampa Bay area offers several big eating challenges and this is much the same across the USA. These are not for the faint-hearted, but the sense of accomplishment offered by successfully taking down quite so much or quite so spicy a dish is one that's greater than any cash prize or seeing your name on the wall.

Post by Tony, a UK based travel blogger on behalf of Cheap flights. If you’re looking for offers on flights to USA, check out this URL: http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/USA/