History Series / ManVFood

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** A Man V. Food Nation episode featured Jerry Sags, one half of the legendary tag team Wrestling/TheNastyBoys taking down a spicy ten wing challenge in Tampa, Fl. He had 30 minutes to complete the challenge + enduring 5 minutes of afterburn. [[spoiler: He took the wings down in 6 minutes and completed the afterburn like a boss!]]

*** In a way, the New York episode where Adam did the "Suicide Six Wings" rematch having then-[[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams New York Yankees]] pitcher Joba Chamberlain giving him advice involving how to beat the challenge -- "Basically, [[StealthPun you wing it.]]" -- is kind of a counterpoint to the Boston episode. Which would kind of give this an example of FridgeBrilliance here.

** Kevin Youkilis of the [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams Boston Red Sox]] appeared and jokingly called Yankee fan Adam a bum. He was not there specifically to be a special guest, just stopped by the restaurant for lunch.

** Taken UpToEleven on his knowledge of food. Just watch him on his guest appearance as a judge on ''Series/IronChef America''. Still the same dorky guy, but he does know his food, high-end or not.

* UpToEleven: How insane can the ''non-challenge'' foods get? Let's see: the "Fried Chicken Eggs-Benedict"? Everything at the California State Fair (including a potato spiral with a hot dog in the middle, and a deep-fried ''three''-Twinkie-on-a-stick)? Cinnamon rolls with their own gravitational pull?
** Blimpie's in Ann Arbor, Michigan has a burger menu consisting of over a dozen different ingredients, of which three are used per burger. [[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan The local university]] calculated that there are over 2.1 '''BILLION''' possible burger combinations.
** The Texas-sized donut made at Round Rock Donuts. What do they use to cut those out of the dough? ''A bucket''!
** Detroit's Mega Burger restaurant often requires the chefs to cook the burgers in a giant stew pot (Just to keep the shape), and the cooking process for the meat itself takes hours.
** From the San Antonio episode, Lulu's Restaurant and Bakery had their chicken-fried steak that was bigger than the plate it was served on and a 3-pound cinnamon roll that one frequent customer, not a thin wisp of a man, said would probably constitute four breakfasts for him and his wife. The second restaurant, Big Lou's Pizza, sold normal-sized pizzas but specialized in an enormous 30-inch pizza that, when ordered as a supreme pizza, contained a plethora of toppings. Adam ate it with the entire Lujan family (the ones who owned Big Lou's), which added up to at least a dozen people.
** Adam visits a British-style fish and chip shop in Florida [[note]]Many Brits go to Florida as a holiday destination, to the point that a British chippie would flourish here[[/note]]. To British viewers, even the standard portion is insanely large; they consider ''one'' piece of battered fried cod to be a sufficiency. It's their cuisine and they know what they're doing. But '''eight'''? ''On the same plate?''

Adam was supposed to have a second food related show, titled ''Man Finds Food'' as a SpiritualSuccessor to this series, but it was put on hold after [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor he went on an instagram tirade against an anonymous user]] and ultimately ran for only one season. However, a second season was picked up. Rebranded ''Secret Eats with Adam Richman'', the focus shifted from him finding secret specialties in the US to finding them around the world.

* DownerEnding: Food winning - especially when Adam falls ''just'' short. .

* ItTastesLikeFeet: "[[TheSimpsons It tastes like burning]]'' has been invoked by name more than once.

* DudeWheresMyReward: In contrast to most of the restaurants that Adam visits, Beth's Cafe in Seattle, Oregon does not offer any reward for finishing its 12-egg omelette plus hash browns.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: During the "Manimal Challenge" Episode, Adam was having a field day with the name Futcher.
** Man V. Food Nation: "Shedhead".
** In one episode, which took place in Texas, Adam visits Round Rock, a city known for its doughnuts. He watches a male cook construct a huge cinnamon roll and makes a wink-wink reference to his "nice buns."
** Sometimes, Adam will engage in LampshadeHanging when another person does this, by saying, "Hey, watch it, this is a family show."

** Taken UpToEleven on his knowledge of food. Just watch him on his guest appearance as a judge on ''Series/IronChef America''. Still the same {{Adorkable}} guy, but he does know his food, high-end or not.

* {{Adorkable}}: Oh, Adam...

--->'''Adam''' (watching the chef very carefully add something to the dish): What’s that?
--->'''Chef:''' Pure capsaicin extract.
--->'''Adam:''' You’re a ''dick''.

* PrecisionFStrike: The "Kitchen Sink" Challenge:
-->Hostess: "Alright Adam, now all you have to do is finish the tray!"
-->Adam (Narrating): "I forgot about the F'-- tray!"

-->'''Crowd:''' ''TWO DOZEN MORE! TWO DOZEN MORE!''
-->'''Adam:''' ''NO F#&$ING WAY! NO F#&$ING WAY!''

-->'''Cook:''' We add five drops of this. ''(gives Adam a small vial)''
-->'''Adam:''' What's this?
-->'''Cook:''' Pure capsaicin extract.
-->'''Adam:''' ...YOU'RE A D!@K.

-->''*Adam takes a taste of the wing sauce*''
-->''*{{beat}}*''
-->'''Adam:''' ''OH, HOLY SH!T!''

** Also the "Fire in Your Hole" wing challenge (which featured the Ghost Chili as one of its ingredients) in Sarasota, FL. He only took two bites, but couldn't continue because the damn thing was ''that'' hot. It was Adam's only loss in spicy challenges.

* NutritionalNightmare: Adam's challenges. They can weigh in between 4 to 7 pounds and are loaded with tens of thousands of calories, salt, grease and sugar. The only reason Adam doesn't gain hundreds of pounds over the course of the show is that he exercises and takes care of himself off-camera.

* FastFoodNation: It has been noted that Adam Richman's gross-out fest portraying the very best and worst of American eating has succeeded in presenting a not very flattering picture of American eating habits outside the USA. The insane eating challenges, and even the ''standard'' portion sizes Adam explores in his tour of American food, have contributed to the (largely false but generally held) perception outside the USA that all Americans are waddling obese three-hundred-pound gutbuckets who habitually eat to excess. Many of these restaurants do give generous meal portions, which earned them many customers coming back routinely.

And of course since this is a travelogue show, Act I and, usually, most of Act II are composed of the host visiting other restaurants in the City of the Week. This is done to encourage travel to the City of the Week. Adam goes more in depth on the "travel" side on the show's companion web series, ''[[http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Man_V_Food/Video/ci.Webseries_A_Side_Of_City.series A Side Of City.]]''

* ArchEnemy: The ghost chili pepper to Adam.

* AscendedFanboy - Adam ends up coaching three members of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} Harlem Globetrotters]] for a two pound spicy BBQ sandwich challenge. The ending of the Harlem episode of Man V. Food Nation had Adam receiving [[spoiler:a one-of-a-kind #1 [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} Harlem Globetrotters]] jersey after Adam presented three of its members the Man V. Food Nation belt that they won in their spicy challenge.]]

* BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce: WILL be involved during the Spicy Challenges.
** In "Los Angeles", the broth in a ramen noodle soup challenge is so spicy, not even the owner, who cooked it for Adam, has ever tried it.

** At least one hot wings challenge and one BBQ sandwich had ''capsaicin extract'' as an ingredient. Capsaicin being the chemical that makes hot peppers hot, the extract is nothing more than a (forebodingly) dark liquid that has no taste. It's basically nothing more than pure, liquified pain in a bottle.

* The home-made mustard at Phillipe's in Los Angeles isn't part of a challenge, but it has enough of a kick to it that making it makes your face burn from the fumes.

* DagwoodSandwich: Adam eats several as challenges and non-challenges. One example was the "Ultimate Destroyer" which had multiple white bread slices, large buns, 7 kinds of meat (brisket, pulled pork, sliced pork, ham, turkey breast, hamburger patties and smoked sausages) and the owner added barbecue sauce on every layer. And Adam was required to eat 1.5 pounds of Fries with that (he failed).

* DudeWheresMyReward: Beth's Cafe in Seattle, Oregon does not offer a reward for finishing its 12-egg omelette plus hash browns.
* FastFoodNation: It has been noted that Adam Richman's gross-out fest portraying the very best and worst of American eating has succeeded in presenting a not very flattering picture of American eating habits outside the USA. The insane eating challenges, and even the ''standard'' portion sizes Adam explores in his tour of American food, have contributed to the (largely false but generally held) perception outside the USA that all Americans are waddling obese three-hundred-pound gutbuckets who habitually eat to excess. Many of these restaurants give generous meal portions, which earned them many customers coming back routinely.

** New York's Curry challenge plays this trope straight and seemingly subverts it, over 100 people have won the challenge, but thousands have tried and failed.
* HiddenDepths: If you saw Adam outside of ''Man v. Food'', you'd think he's the fun-loving guy who loves to take on food challenges. However, he IS a [[GeniusBruiser Yale graduate]].

** The worst offender in the show's history is arguably Munchies Cafe owner JD Chester. Adam's challenge was a mystery challenge this time around, in which he had to eat Spicy Ghost Pepper Wings. Adam lost the challenge, but it was later revealed on ''[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAzrgbu8gEMIIK3r4Se1dOZWSZzUSadfZ Hot Ones]]'' that JD ''put more extract than what was necessary'' on the wings. This was done in order to purposely screw Adam over, nevermind the fact that the amount of extract he put on the wings was lethal and put Adam at risk.
** Papa Bob from the Kansas City, BBQ episode is one of the more notorious {{jerkass}} challenge creators. He made bizarre rules for eating his Ultimate Destroyer sandwich (4 pounds of barbecued meats marinated in BBQ sauce and breads plus 1.5 pounds of fries) such as no standing up more than once during the episode, no going to the bathroom and no dipping your sandwich or fries into shakes. He forced Adam to put on a "I Failed Miserably" button upon failing the challenge and collected $58 from him.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: As if it's not obvious, every restaurant owner that offers eating challenges want Adam to lose because that way they can collect large amounts of money from him (they profit off eating challenges thanks to the huge failure rate that can go over 95%), even when the price of making the huge meal is nowhere near the price they charged.

* MundaneMadeAwesome: For the 190 pound burger challenge (no that's not a typo) in Detroit, Adam recruited help from an entire local football and hockey team's lineups, a local firefighter precinct, a roller derby squad, Mexican lucha libre wrestlers, and a Music/{{KISS}} cover band in full makeup.

* NutritionalNightmare: Adam's challenges. They can weigh in between 4 to 7 pounds and are loaded with tens of thousands of calories, salt, grease and sugar.
* PrecisionFStrike: The "Kitchen Sink" Challenge

* PungeonMaster: Adam

** One challenge in particular involved a giant burger sold at a minor-league UsefulNotes/{{baseball}} park that had to be eaten between the seventh-inning stretch and the game's final out (between 12 and 15 outs, depending on if the home team needed to bat in the bottom of the ninth). This meant that Adam didn't know ''exactly'' how long he had to finish it since it was ''how quickly the outs were recorded'' that determined how much time he had, rather than a clock. He managed to finish it off only because the final batter fouled off an 0-2 pitch.

* SelfDeprecatingHumor

** Blimpie's in Ann Arbor, Michigan has burger menu consisting of over a dozen different ingredients, of which three are used per burger. [[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan The local university]] calculated that there are over 2.1 '''BILLION''' possible burger combinations.
** The Texas-sized donut made at Round Rock Donuts. What do they use to cut those out of the dough? ''A bucket!''

** From the San Antonio episode, Lulu's Restaurant and Bakery had their chicken fried steak that was bigger than the plate it was served on and a 3-pound cinnamon roll that one frequent customer, not a thin wisp of a man, said would probably constitute four breakfasts for him and his wife. The second restaurant, Big Lou's Pizza, sold normal-sized pizzas but specialized in an encrmous 30-inch pizza that, when ordered as a supreme pizza, contained a plethora of toppings. Adam ate it with the entire Lujan family (the ones who owned Big Lou's), which added up to at least a dozen people.
** Adam visits a British-style fish and chip shop in Florida [[note]]Many Brits go to Florida as a holday destination: a British chippie would flourish here[[/note]]. To British viewers, even the standard portion is insanely large: we consider ''one'' piece of battered fried cod to be a sufficiency. It's our cuisine; we know what we're doing. But '''eight'''? ''On the same plate?''
* VomitDiscretionShot: Amazingly infrequent.

* SpecialGuest: ''BizarreFoods' '' Andrew Zimmern appeared in the Minneapolis episode to introduce Adam to the "wonders" of [[ForeignQueasine lutefisk]].

* NutritionalNightmare: Adam's challenges. They can weigh in between 4 to 7 pounds and are loaded with tens of thousands of calories from starchy carbs, grease and sugar.

* TheBadGuyWins: Happens a lot of times because if Food wins, then the {{Jerkass}} restaurant owners can collect money from Adam and shame him for failing to finish their unusually large challenges and give him buttons of shame or put his picture on the Wall of Shame.

* CurbstompBattle: Adam's first encounter with the "Suicide Wings." He took ''one bite'', and had to stop. He later came back and won though. Keep in mind that the first attempt was performed before the series started.

* DagwoodSandwich: Adam eats several as challenges. One example was the "Ultimate Destroyer" which had multiple white bread slices, large buns, 7 kinds of meat (brisket, pulled pork, sliced pork, ham, turkey breast, hamburger patties and smoked sausages) and the owner added barbecue sauce on every layer. And Adam was required to eat 1.5 pounds of Fries with that (he failed).

* FastFoodNation: It has been noted that Adam Richman's gross-out fest portraying the very best and worst of American eating has succeeded in presenting a not very flattering picture of American eating habits outside the USA. The insane eating challenges, and even the ''standard'' portion sizes Adam explores in his tour of American food, have contributed to the (largely false but generally held) perception outside the USA that all Americans are waddling obese three-hundred-pound gutbuckets who habitually eat to excess.

** Unsurprisingly, a lot of the owners of the restaurants that offer eating challenges will force participants who fail the challenge to have their picture taken and posted on a shame display. That's not to say that owners can't get creative about finding new ways to shame participants who lose the challenge.

* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: After failing the Ultimate Destroyer challenge (which unfairly had excessive, different amounts of meats combined with more than 1 pound of French Fries) and obviously having severe discomfort from eating so much within 45 minutes, Adam was forced by the sandwich maker to accept a Shame button. Adam pretended he felt proud to take it though.