Meat Fight is an annual event where teams of chefs stretch their skills into barbecue and compete for quirky trophies, feeding guests and raising money for people living with multiple sclerosis along the way, usually to the tune of more than $200,000.
Since that sounds like a good place to catch COVID-19, Meat Fight’s CEO Alice Lassaude and her team decided to go virtual with fundraising efforts going daily through the virtual event Nov. 8.
And to convince people to contribute dollars, Dallas chefs are committing to doomsday challenges. For example, if chef Danyele McPherson (Hero, HGSply Co.) raises $5,000, she’s going to sit in a kiddie pool full of ranch dressing (which she hates) and eat three chicken fingers (which she hates) that she’ll dip into the ranch.
Each chef has a terrible act of their choosing — people contribute enough, and they can watch the unfortunate, though charitable, cooking professional commit to their doom.
Nov. 8, there’s the online event: It’s still a Meat Fight competition judged by chef Brian Luscher and Texas Monthly barbecue critic Daniel Vaughn. Being online, they’re not even tasting the food, just going off the videos the chefs post.
Like we said, they’re not holding back from the theme: the name of the event is “The Worst 10th Anniversary Party Ever.”
“We came up with this idea for people to do things that are uncomfortable in a fun way,” Lassaude said. “It doesn’t cost them any money, it just costs them, you know, dignity.”
The only way a chef can get out of the challenge is if they raise an additional $1,000 beyond their chosen goal.
“We just had an offer come in from David Uygur from Lucia: He’s going to, if we hit the $35,000 fundraising threshold, he will wear an olive loaf shirt made of olive loaf and he will sing the 1973 Oscar Mayer '[My] Bologna Has a First Name” song,' Lassaude said. “I can’t believe how generous these chefs are.”
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“While the concept is complicated, the fundraising for this event is simple,” Lassaude said. “One hundred percent of every single dollar we get will either go to our Meat Fight MS research endowment at UT Southwestern that we created this year or to fund equipment for bikes for bike MS anywhere in the country.”
The list of doom clock challenges is growing, Lassaude said, but here it is for now. Donations can be made online.
- Jeana Johnson: Eat a slice of pie with hair hidden in it
- Doug Ward: Shoot Malort and praise The Astros
- Kevin Sprague:Drink Folgers and listen to Nickelback
- Tida Pichakron: Eat cold refried beans and drink warm tequila
- Sean Jett: Watch a 12-hour Hallmark Christmas movie marathon with no alcohol.
- Katherine Clapner: Drink doogh
- Jeff Bekavac: Eat cold Spaghetti-O's and Watch Caillou (must also watch Blue's Clues if he vomits)
- Brian Luscher: Pie eat rematch
- Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman: Can’t wear fake eyelashes for 24 hours
- Andrew Dilda: Eat double-fudge brownies with a gallon of orange juice and listen to new wave music
- Oliver Sitrin: Wear full spandex and rollerblade down the Katy Trail
- Sandra Bussey: Eat at Outback Steakhouse and order a well-done steak
- Lee Hunzinger: Eat a Totino's Party Pizza
- Eric Friedline: Eat deviled eggs whilst being sprayed with Faygo and listening to Insane Clown Posse
- Omar Flores: Drink a six-pack of White Claw while watching The Notebook
- Misti Norris: Be poured with pig's blood and eat out-of-season corn on the cob, followed by a dusting of fine glitter
- Danyele McPherson: Sit in a kiddie pool full of ranch dressing, dip three chicken strips in it and eat them
- Janice Provost : Drink Strawberry Hill wine and eat port wine cheese
- David Uygur: Wear a shirt made of olive loaf and sing the “My Bologna Has a First Name” song
