Editor:
Each year, one million children starve to death in this world and tens of millions go to bed hungry every night.
What are we, in this so-called land of plenty, doing to help alleviate this tragic circumstance?
For virtually every national or provincial holiday, a community or some corporation sponsors what is referred to as an eating contest. Participants compete to see who can stuff the most food into themselves for some type of a champion’s cup and/or monetary gain.
The type of food takes many forms – hot dogs, pizza, watermelon, cake, blueberries… you name it.
It seems somewhere someone comes up with an eating contest of some kind, and the media – TV, radio, newspapers, etc. – take great delight in reporting the coming event or the results.
To be very honest, I do not see any degree of entertainment in this type of so-called promotion, but look upon it as an affront to all those starving people throughout the world. This is a complete and utter waste of food and should be condemned not supported.
The money used in these fiascoes could be put to better use than encouraging hundreds of people to watch and cheer on a group gorging themselves with food then throwing up in a bucket provided by the ‘sponsors.’
Dick Hulls, Surrey