Via Bettina Elias Siegel at The Lunch Tray, (a great site, btw) I saw this compendium of trenchermania: 83 American eateries that challenge customers with absurd mountains of food, offering not only to give it to them for free (or nearly), but to give them merchandise and to venerate them on walls of fame, if they can down the platters within a specified time.

Although I've been binge-free for years — after bingeing was a hallmark of my eating disorder — and I'm quite happily, quite gratefully, maintaining a 155-pound weight loss for almost 20 years, I found myself reacting like the fire horse, still reacting to the alarm years after being retired. Repeatedly, I thought, "I could do that. No sweat."

But there were also quite a few that I knew I'd have no shot at, and not just because I'm out of binge practice. One that stood out from that category was the Eagles Deli in Brighton, Mass., the nearest of the 83 to where I live:

"A family of ever-larger burgers populates the menu at Eagle's Deli, with five different patties ranging from 1 1/2 pounds to 5 pounds. Only the largest, the $55 Eagle's Challenge, is eligible for rewards. The monster burger shoves 5 pounds of beef (almost 10 patties), 20 pieces of bacon and 20 slices of American cheese between a fat bun, then adds 5 pounds of fries, a deli pickle and fountain soda for good measure. Take all 12 pounds down in an hour for a full refund and $100 gift card."

It was the fries that tipped the scales. I coulda done the sandwich.