Editor’s Note: This column is in response to the “Eating competition contrary to SLU mission” commentary published in the Sept. 23 issue.

As the second-place finisher in The U’s “Eat a Graduate” eating competition, I was quickly drawn to last week’s article, “Eating competition contrary to SLU mission.” I found it a little absurd for the authors to claim that a simple competition may be inconsistent with our mission and Christian values.
“Participants may experience… spiritual conviction- sins of gluttony, suffering invading nausea and vomiting without compensation, etc,” the authors said. Perhaps they didn’t do their research enough to realize that this eating competition wasn’t about how much you could eat; it was about how fast you could eat.
After finishing the sandwich, ill and sinful weren’t the feelings I was experiencing. Instead, I was still a little hungry and had a few pieces of fruit, some Pappy’s sweet potato fries and an ice cream sandwich when I returned home.
The attempt to force a guilt trip on participants for wasting food while six million children around the world are dying of starvation and malnutrition is ludicrous.
First of all, the competition meant you had to eat all the food (every last morsel!), so there was no wasting of food. Second, the eating competition will likely not change any factors contributing to the starvation of children abroad. If you think it’s fair to make that kind of comparison, then are we gluttonous, sinful and cruel for swimming in a pool filled with clean water because other parts of the world don’t have access to potable water?
Are these the causes of some of our global issues, or do the issues transcend that? Moreover, does engaging in an eating competition make us self-focused, gluttonous pigs to the point where we diminish our concern for others in the world? Do participants walk away trying to hoard all the food they can without any concern for the needy?
Our country’s health definitely deserves concern, but this eating competition isn’t what is expanding 68 percent of American waistlines. The first-place finisher was a NCAA track athlete, and while I’m no collegiate athlete, I consider myself to be very healthy. I ran over 12 miles before the competition to boost my hunger and, ironically, I placed first overall in the SLU Physical Therapy Department’s Hustle for your Health 5k run this past Saturday. Yes, skinny runners can eat… a lot!
While I realize that participating in the competition wasn’t a healthy action in itself, as long as it is not a weekly event and I maintain healthy habits overall, I think I will be just fine. The event is set to happen once a year and it doesn’t draw a crowd of competitive eaters who train regularly.
There is no reason to point a finger and make claims that infrequent participation in such a competition is contributing to global warming and the death of children. As the authors said, moderation is key.
As long as we maintain healthy habits on a regular basis, there is nothing wrong with some good, old fashioned fun in a once-a-year eating competition. Next time people claim that an act is somewhere between “hypocritical at best and heretical at worst,” they should really think about the true severity of the issue at hand.

Brian Kelly is a senior in Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology.