Food has a unique place in the social media realm. What was once held "sacred" on Food Network is now performed by any person who desires to do so across social media, from Twitch to TikTok. Whether making a full-fledged layer cake or merely a grilled cheese, there is food being prepared by someone on a social media platform at nearly every minute of the day. There's a cacophony of buzz words, of terminology, of cooking vessels and of "trendy" ingredients. Every once in a while, though, something breaks through: negroni....spagliatto....with prosecco, corn kid, dalgona coffee.
Just over forty days ago, though, a Twitter user set out with a humble goal: over the course of nearly two months, he would consume one rotisserie chicken per day, documenting this on Twitter as the days went by. What began as a modest exercise culminated in a convivial, jovial celebration of a man sitting at a small table, cheering while an applauding, beaming crowd varnished heaps of adoration onto him. To anyone unacquainted, this seemed like a truly bizarre moment. And even to those who are acquainted, it is unquestionably still a bizarre moment. But something about those videos stirred a real reception across Twitter.
In a landscape of overtly wasteful "cooking videos" crafted for nothing other than gross-out humor and clout — not to mention cringeworthy recipe videos like Paula Patton's fried chicken — a certain wholesomeness came through, breaking through the sardonic, hard-edged shell of the internet's collective consciousness. Was it the natural, organic means in which this all came together? The rotisserie chicken guy's no-frills attitude and approach? The aligning synchronicity of the Philadelphia ethos? Inadvertent thirst? His glib, no-frills nonchalance? The RCG's insistence on always consuming a large bottle of seltzer with his requisite rotisserie chicken?
To set the scene, the guy's name is Alexander Tominsky and he's a 30-year-old server from Philadelphia. It wasn't until day 11 of his quest that he shared it on social media, noting "I would like to Invite you all on a journey that I am on. I am eating a rotisserie chicken every day for 30 days. Today is day 11. I will keep you all updated as I get closer to my goal." As the project progressed and his followers grew, he extended the challenge to 40 days.
This past Sunday, he reached day 40, and the climax was one for the record books.
As Jake Nivens writes for Interview Magazine, "On Sunday, the morning after the Phillies lost to the Houston Astros in the World Series, he lifted the spirits of some hundreds of Philadelphian who gathered at an abandoned pier behind a Walmart to watch Tominsky eat his 40th and final chicken."
But what led to this moment, complete with a red carpet?
While the origins of this feat seem blurry (Tominsky tells multiple outlets that he would pick up a rotisserie chicken to eat before work because of its price and convenience, but it's unclear when exactly he decided to turn it into a challenge of sorts), it is clear that he knew he was onto something once he made that initial post.
One particularly noteworthy aspect of Tominsky's quest is that it was entirely self-imposed, with no promise of money, attention, followers, or clout — though they did come and in hordes, at that. VICE notes that he went from about 400 to 40,000 followers on Twitter over the past month and a half.
As far as the chicken itself, Tominsky shared with multiple outlets that he opted only for plain, un-sauced chicken, but he did purchase from multiple grocers. In an interview with The Takeout, Tominsky states that he's tried rotisserie chicken from Acme, Rittenhouse Market, Giant (which smokes their chickens), Shop Rite, Walmart and Boston Market. In case you were wondering, none of the 40 chickens were from Costco because Tominsky doesn't have a membership. In some interviews, he notes that he ate nothing but chicken for the past few weeks. In other interviews, though, he notes that he sometimes ate raw vegetables: radish, broccoli, a comically a large carrot which you can see in many of his Twitter photos.
In speaking about the chicken, Tominsky told Nivens that he chose rotisserie chickens because they're "kind of like a sensory bomb. You have the smell, you have the warmth, the slimy texture, the sound it makes when you pull the skin off the flesh." As far as how he felt after all of that chicken, Tominsky told Newsweek that he felt "cramps, dizziness, constant heartburn. I think from the sodium," and he told The New York Times that he actually wound up losing 16 pounds.
In his own words — and in a more verbose moment than usual — he tells VICE why he thinks there was such a sudden surge of interest in him, stating "I think it's because it's not a bunch of bullshit: I'm not doing this for any reason but to do it and I think a lot of people do things that are with other intentions or motivations. Also, people eat, everyone or hopefully eats, so I guess people can relate? And it's just a positive thing that isn't hurting anyone."
He also mentioned to Mashable that he's looking to hopefully get supporters to donate to Philabundance, which is a Philadelpha-based organization that works with the food insecure.
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There's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek appeal to most of Tominky's interviews and interactions, in addition to his dryness on social media, but as noted, the uproarious crowd was captivated by something that went deeper than any sort of food-induced irony or PR schemes. In some interviews, Tominsky taps into a more existential realm, such as in The New York Times when he notes that he "must do something that brings him pain [in order] to make others smile." In another interview, he stated that his journey was "microscopic in comparison to what the world lives with and sees everyday."
His glib simplicity is certainly a selling point and his Twitter bio is a perfect example: it reads "I ate chicken." The bulk of all of his photos (aside from the triumphant moment in which he ate the final bites of the last chicken on Sunday) are all brooding and serious, nary a smirk in sight. This same tone comes through in his response to Purdue on Twitter, when he replied with one word to their inquiring over whether he'd be interested in doing a chicken taste test of sorts, ostensibly turning down an offer of free chicken.
Tominsky claims that he really enjoyed the old-school act of putting up fliers throughout the Philadelphia area for his final act of chicken consumption. According to Mashable, Tominsky believes about 500 people came to watch him finish that final chicken. As Tominsky was about to finish the last bites of his final chicken on Sunday, Bruce Springsteen played, the crowd sang and chanted, cheering him on as he finished.
A Philadelphia resident named Sarah Skochko — who was in attendance at Sunday's event — told Billy Penn that due to the current state of the world, "we've all become nihilists. And something like this — that's not done with a profit motive, or really any meaning at all — is refreshing." Conversely, another attendee said "I don't think there's anything to take out of it as far as a moral lesson," they said. "It's just a guy eating chicken." No matter how you take it, there's an unvarnished appeal of some sort.
After taking the final bites, Tominsky told the crowd "I ate the chicken. I did the best I can. I just thank you all for being here, and thanks for watching me consume."
For better or for worse, for far-reaching reasonings that touch on the state of the world, or perhaps, for no reason whatsoever, Alexander Tominsky ate 40 rotisserie chickens in 40 days, amassing a following and a fandom as he did so. And that was that. Now, with greasy fingers, a distended stomach and a newfound "fanbase," Tominsky's challenge has come to a close. But for a fleeting, ephemeral moment, his adherents were able to forget about the midterms, a World Series loss, or other personal doldroms and instead focus on a simple man eating a singular chicken per day.
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