Feasting on Hog in Stark Vegas

The Beginning

I started looking online, I checked Mississippi State's concessions and I looked for any possible tailgates that did something a little different. Then I checked on a few nearby restaurants; if I wasn't going to be able to find food in the stadium, then I wanted to find something in town that was impossible to eat. This is Stark Vegas right?

I emailed my sister-in-law, Leah Beasley, who works for Mississippi State Athletics and I asked for help. She said she had a friend named Bob. A friend named Bob - now this has got to be good.

Email from Bob:

So Bob sent me an email about possible locations to get my eat on.

What Now?

All right, now we're getting somewhere! I asked him if he had tried the three-patty, six strips of bacon burger at Mugshots. In fact, he had not, but he was set to attempt the feat that week. He would let me know how it went. So that was a strike out - I wasn't going to try something that he had just tried. I needed something bolder.

Lot 36 Tailgate

Okay, now we are talking.  I've made up my mind and I've let everyone know that I want to eat something big and something weird. I can't go back now, this is going to happen.

On the day of the game, I ate a decent breakfast but not too much. I skipped lunch and waited until we headed to the game. The first place we went was straight to the Lot 36 tailgate. These guys have something for me and they let me know on Twitter.

Game Day

So I walked up to this tailgate with my wife, Laura, my kids, my in-laws, the whole crew. I could tell walking up that this was going to be good. It smelled amazing and they had the whole set-up: big grill, big tents, all kinds of side dishes, and a bunch of people.

By then, a few pictures of me in a Stark Vegas shirt had hit Facebook. My brother sent me a text. Did I mention I was from Arkansas? Apparently I'm not welcome back in the state. My mom told me I better be secretly rooting for the Hogs.

Getting Started

We met the guys from the tailgate and they graciously showed us to the main course; they had an entire hog laid out on the grill. By the time we arrived, it had been picked apart pretty good, but there was still enough for me to get my eat on. I started piling my plate up with hog meat.

Video of Me Getting Started Plate

In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "Well, I didn't find anything crazy to eat so I'm going to have to eat a ton of meat if I want to have something to write about." I found a bottle of water and started eating. First of all, it was really good. Any time you are trying to eat a lot of something, it helps if it tastes great and this certainly did.

Eating two or three pounds of straight pork doesn't sound like a whole lot, but it does start to fill you up pretty quick. It's a good thing the meat was pretty moist and tender. Was I going to have to pile up a second plate just to show off? I'm not sure I could handle it.

Then, out of nowhere, I had a curve ball thrown to me straight out of crazy food heaven. "Hey, didn't you say you want to eat something weird?"

Uh oh, what do they have and how gross is it going to be? At this point I had to eat just about anything if I was going to back up my big talk.

The Tongue

The tongue. Yes, the tongue. Okay, that's not too bad. Bring it on.

The Snout

But, wait. There's more. What about the snout?

The what?

Is this like redneck caviar or something? Why not, let's eat that too.

Video of Me Eating Pig Snout

It reminds me of back in Louisiana, where they suck the head of the crawfish. It's actually better than the tongue. The tongue was pretty good, but let's just say it had texture.

With the snout you basically eat everything that is inside. It sounds nasty, but it was really good.

The Aftermath

I ate both of the interesting items and I finished off my plate of meat. I still had a couple of hours to walk it off before the game, so the timing was perfect. I was even able to eat ice cream and a hot dog at halftime for dessert. Cory Gunkel was in the press box, he can attest to the spread that Mississippi State had to offer. The ice cream certainly hit the spot.

The Return?

All in all, it was a great day. The guys from Lot 36 were really cool and the food was outstanding. We are already planning to come back when Louisiana Tech heads to Starkville next year. I guess we will have to see what kind of interesting menu items they can come up with for me in 2015.

Look close on this last picture and you can see what's left of the snout. That's my two daughters in the background. They thought it was really gross.