New Yorkers gathered at Manhattan’s Union Square Park last weekend to watch a balaclava-clad man eat an entire plastic barrel full of cheeseballs.
In anticipation of the stunt, the anonymous cheeseball consumer pasted posters advertising the event across the city. On Saturday, hundreds showed up at the park to watch him devour the entire barrel of cheesy cornmeal puffs.
“I decided to do this because I thought New York City could use something like this. Cheeseballs are funny, and eating an entire jar of one is a difficult task, but not impossible,” the anonymous Cheeseball Man told the New York Post.
He told the Post he was 22 years old and a recent graduate of New York University. Anonymity, he says, is an important part of the whole bit.
“I think masks are really funny. I also think that it adds so much to the story of it all. You know, I think people really do care about anonymity, if anybody could be Cheeseball Man, and I think that’s a beautiful thing,” he told the Independent.
The feasting was finished in 30 minutes, requiring no small amount of intestinal fortitude.
“There was a moment that I was definitely going to throw up. And then people said, ‘Keep it down,’ really loudly. So, I just kept it in,” he told WABC-TV.
The balls were especially hard to chow down due to a mix-up. He forgot to get the gluten-free variety.
“I’ve always had a bit of a gluten allergy. I get kind of bloated upon eating gluten. I thought that the cheese balls that I had gotten were actually gluten-free. But they weren’t. But I gotta power through it for the sake of the crowd, you know,” he said.
He told WABC-TV he plans to one-up the feat next year with an even bigger tub.
Some people have tried unmasking the cheeseball champion, and he decried their efforts in a video posted to Instagram Tuesday.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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