KURT But Joe makes a point on the camera which we never show on the show — he's like, listen, just so you all know, I'm not eating all this. Basically, he takes a couple bites and then I eat the rest of it.
JOE That is so not true! I mean, I exercise self-control, but —
ALEX It's not eight full meals. It's like tastes and experience, and if he likes something he's gonna finish it.
JOEL But it cultivates the idea that he's eating and drinking a lot.
ALEX I mean, Joe's life is like this. I think that that's a really hard thing to convey. He existed like this before we came into it and he's not gonna not exist like this for a while, so we are creating this thing now as sort of a snapshot in time. But he's really like this.
SURE, BUT WHY I'M ASKING IS THAT IT FEELS LIKE THE SHOW ENDS WHEN (HIS) APPETITE DOES. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THE SHOW IS ABOUT: (JOE'S) ABILITY OR INTEREST IN —
JOE Well, that's what we're actually working on. We don't actually want that to be what the show is about. It's almost — Alex hates when I use the word lifestyle — but a travel and lifestyle more than an actual food show. It's living in a certain manner. But we don't wanna necessarily say that the whole point of this is — even though it's called Food Coma — that you're supposed to harm yourself with food.
ALEX It used to be this is what happens in the way to Joe getting in a food coma. And I think that we're looking at it more now like Food Coma is like Joe's brand, and this is what happens while Joe's being Joe.
JOE I don't want it to be about, like, look how much I can eat.
ALEX And if you're smart enough — and this is always a hard line to toe without pandering — then you know that this doesn't look particularly glamorous. This isn't a sustainable way to exist, and we're not trying to necessarily be cheerleaders behind the idea.
JOEL Look, I blacked out (in Fort Kent) and didn't know what I did and puked all over the place.
ALEX And we try not to make that look sexy.
JOEL No! Look at me at BJ's! I look like Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer dancing with a troll!
I GREW UP IN A GREEK FAMILY AND ALWAYS HEARD HOW FOOD BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER AND IT'S THIS SORT OF CLASSIC BONDING AGENT —
JOE Well, everybody has to do it or they die. It's not like alcohol where you might do it, you might not, you might be in recovery. No matter who you are you need some kind of nourishment, and nobody doesn't like things that taste good. It usually starts with the family, because your holidays are celebrated with a meal.
ALEX The criticism I got really early on from people I know from the progressive activism community was that I was violating the first principles of community by way of —
JOEL Having fun?
ALEX Well, by way of — exactly — the underlying (sentiment) was that (the show) was really about pursuing excess.
