A BASINGSTOKE social media blogger is proving that you can have your cake and eat it by taking part in food competitions whilst remaining fit and healthy.

Hungry Ronin, as he is known on Instagram, posts photographs of his eating feats on the photo-sharing site, amazing his followers with the amount of food he is able to consume in one sitting.

The 37-year-old, who grew up in Basingstoke, first developed a passion for food through his parents who are in the restaurant and takeaway business.

He said: “I have been brought up around food and learned how to cook from a young age. There’s nothing I don’t eat, I’m quite adventurous and like to try new things. There’s always something new and different to try.”

Ronin, who used to be a personal trainer and is a qualified gym instructor, took part in his first eating competition in 2013.

He said: “I was quite nervous not knowing what to expect. I had never seen an episode of Man Versus Food, I didn’t know what food challenges were or what to expect.

“It was a big competition there were 30 people so they split us into different rounds and I ended up in the first round which I didn’t want because I wanted to watch other people and see their tactics.

“I ate my heart out and it carried me through and I won the competition.”

Basingstoke Gazette:

Ronin managed to consume a belly-aching 1.8kilos of chicken wings in eight minutes, and since then he has gone on to win numerous other eating contests and complete various food challenges.

Over the years, his accomplishments include eating 18 cakes; a stack of nine waffles; eight beef burgers in buns with fries; a breakfast of eight eggs, six sausages, six rashers of bacon, six slices of bread, four hash browns, four tomatoes, three portions of beans and one portion of chips; and a 20 stack of pancakes, which he became the first person ever to finish.

He said: “I think it’s all to do with technique and being fast. I have always been good at eating fast.”

Ronin posts regular photographs of his meals, shocking them with the size of his portions.

During a recent breakfast out Ronin ordered crushed avocado, poached egg on toast with streaky bacon; oak smoked salmon, slow roast plum tomatoes, spinach, poached eggs, Alresford watercress and sourdough toast; scotch pancakes with smoked streaky bacon and maple syrup with a scoop of ice cream; all washed down with a large cappuccino.

However, Ronin, who now works as an action performer in films, said his Instagram followers don’t see the other side to his eating habits, explaining: “I wouldn’t have gone into doing eating challenges without my background in fitness. A lot of people aren’t aware of the calories they are putting into their bodies and the type of food they are eating whereas I am. People don’t see I eat a lot of fruit and veg and drink lots of water.”