Don't Cry For Me Walla Walla - Challenging The Onion Peeling World Record

With just two episodes remaining in Season 5 of Glutton for Punishment, The Record Breaking Edition, our extreme food adventurer, Bob Blumer, is at it again, taking on yet another Guinness World Record. This time it is bound to bring Bob to tears.

So what crazy challenge has Bob got himself into this time? The Onion Peeling Record, for speed to be exact. Last set in 1980 by a diner employee named Alan St. Jean, Bob needs to break Alan's time - an incredible 3 minutes and 18 seconds for peeling 50 pounds of onions!

You see, Bob is not taking on just any vegetable, but that most revered of vegetables, The Onion, a vegetable so loved that it's been known to bring even the most mighty of men to tears.

Did you know that the Ancient Egyptians actually worshipped the onion? They believed its spherical shape and concentric rings symbolized eternity. They even went so far as to bury onions with the Pharaohs. King Ramses IV actually requested that he be buried with onions in his eye sockets. Yuck!

Don't cry for Bob yet, though: he has help. Bon Appétit's Executive Chef, Christian Chemin, will teach Bob a few tricks of the trade, so that he doesn't end up with a kitchen full of crying chefs by the end of a busy night.

Stay tuned to the Food Network Canada, this Monday night (February 7th, 2011) at 7:30 pm ET, 4:30 & 11:30 pm PT, to cheer Bob (and the Onion) on.