Meredith Boxberger

There are 33.5 million Canadians and none of them can eat more than Meredith "the Deep Fried Diva" Boxberger of Barrie, Ontario. And yet her hometown's tourism office fails to acknowledge her incredible achievement. Not even once. Point your mouse at tourismbarrie.com and you'll instead be regaled with enticements to explore that city's Kempenfelt Bay or to take a daytrip to nearby Wasaga Beach. Wasaga Beach? Barrie, please. There is NO MENTION that Meredith "The Deep Fried Diva" Boxberger—#1-ranked eater in all of Canada—lives in that very city. There is NO MENTION of the 21.5 Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns she ate in 10 minutes, or the 23.5 Wild Eggs pancakes she ate in the same amount of time. There is NO MENTION that visitors to Barrie could find themselves in Ms Boxberger's frankly charming company in any one of that city's dining establishments, where she regularly opts for pizza, turkey and Swiss on rye and ice-cream, even when it's cold out. That public employees would knowingly and willingly waste the taxpayers' money on such trite suggestions when Barrie's most storied attraction lives and breathes unknown and unheralded in that city beggars belief. In this time of fiscal austerity, such waste is unconscionable. MLE calls upon the citizens of Barrie, ON, to write to their elected officials to see this matter addressed immediately.