Travelling the culinary world to put on a few pounds

A Texas based Milltownpass native who says that he has struggled to put on weight throughout his life has come up with a novel way of piling on the pounds.

IT worker Nathan Staniforth has set himself the task of eating snack food from every country in the world and is documenting his dining experiences on his own YouTube channel.

Nathan, who moved to England with his family at the age of 15, began his project last month and has already sampled the snacks from eight countries – Thailand, China, Jamaica, Singapore, Taiwan, The Philippines, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, he outlined why he decided to take a culinary tour of the world’s snack foods.

“I’ve always been really underweight, my mother was the same way so I’ve always had those genes. Most people would say I’m lucky, however it’s been a curse for me because I can never keep any weight on.

“After moving to America, I noticed there was so much food from different counties due to it obviously being an immigrant country. That’s when I got the idea to maybe turn gaining weight into a fun experience.

“I only started this project last month but I’m already getting thousands of views and messages from people around the world, offering encouragement and suggesting foods from their countries.”

Nathan has enjoyed most of the food he has sampled, especially from Jamaica, which he says are surprisingly similar to Irish snacks. He also has no doubts about what has been his least favourite snack.

“The worst was what’s called a century egg from Taiwan. It’s a raw egg that’s fermented in vinegar and spices. It tastes like you have blood in your mouth when you bite into it.”

Nathan, who was interviewed on Ray D’Arcy’s show on RTÉ Radio 1 last Wednesday, is pleased that the response his novel project has received so far. Sampling snack food from across the globe has also had the desired effect, he says.

“My weight is going up quite a bit, so it’s working.”

Nathan's YouTube channel, Snack Saloon, can be viewed here: