By Tim Binnall
In a story reminiscent of a classic Simpsons episode, a man in China has been banned from an all-you-can-eat buffet for eating too much food. The strange dispute reportedly erupted after the ravenous customer, who goes by the moniker 'Mr. Kang' and livestreams his eating expeditions, made a pair of visits to the Handadi Seafood BBQ Buffet in the city of Changsha. The two meals saw the man scarf down a staggering three pounds of pork during his first visit to the buffet and a jaw-dropping eight pounds of prawns when he later returned to the establishment. As one might imagine, the owners of the restaurant were not too thrilled with Kang's prodigious appetite and have now banished him from the establishment.
Declaring that their decision was "discriminatory," the man lamented to a Chinese media outlet that "I can eat a lot - is that a fault?" For his part, the owner of the restaurant explained that he simply cannot afford to keep feeding Kang, grousing that "every time he comes here" the restaurant winds up losing money. The aggrieved proprietor provided something of a glimpse of the voracious eater's habits, recalling how "when he drinks soy milk, he can drink 20 or 30 bottles. When he eats the pork trotters, he consumes the whole tray of them. And for prawns, usually people use tongs to pick them up, he uses a tray to take them all."
The tale of Kang's clash with the buffet has gone viral on social media in China with one news story about the dispute amassing an astounding 250 million views. Opinions on the matter are largely split in the country, with some people siding with the customer and arguing that the restaurant is at fault for offering an all-you-can-eat menu that they apparently cannot afford in this instance. Others are more sympathetic towards the buffet and see Kang's antics as particularly wasteful since some parts of the country are facing food shortages. While the livestreamer may be enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame right now, it could backfire on him should other all-you-can-eat restaurants recognize him and also refuse service.