Baltimore food challenges [Pictures]

Hungry for a challenge? Of course you are. This is America, after all, where everything is bigger and better -- until it isn’t. Restaurants have long offered food challenges, from impossibly enormous steaks to milkshakes big enough to drown in. You know the drill: Clean your plate in a certain time and keep it down long enough to leave the restaurant and you get a free meal, your name on the wall -- maybe even a year’s worth of free food. But in the past few years, food challenges have become even more epic, thanks in no small part to the hit TV show “Man vs. Food.”

In that spirit, we tried five challenges in and around Baltimore, including the Fat Boy burger at Chewy’s, a colossal burrito at El Hidalgo in Elkridge and a giant milkshake -- which was featured on the show -- at Chick and Ruth’s in Annapolis. And, to add insult to injury, we had nutritionist Jodie Shield estimate the total number of calories and fat in each. Gulp. Let the hunger games begin.--b staff