The idea of a guy traveling around America and making a glutton of himself in a different city every week doesn't sound, at first blush, very appealing to me. No one needs another over-eating American stereotype gorging themselves for our amusement every week. Did we learn nothing from Morgan Spurlock?

That said, I love Man v. Food, which begins its second season tonight at 10PM on the Travel Channel. I love the show mainly because I like the host, Adam Richman. Richman is amiable and a bit shlubby, and I identify with that. And as unpleasant as that stereotype of the gluttonous American might be, I love comfort food, and that's what Man v. Food is all about.

Richman doesn't travel to the ritzy restaurants, the places with celebrity chefs and long waiting lists. He finds the best burger joints, the diners with the biggest omelets, places I probably would have visited if I lived in that particular city. They are mostly small business, generally neighborhood hangouts that could probably use a little TV exposure.

And it's clear that Richman appreciates the food, as the show follows each meal being made - the pizza slice that's bigger than a baby (this is one of my favorite images from the show, someone holding a pizza slice next to a baby to compare the size), the Dagwood sandwich with the fresh cold cuts, or the hot wings made by a kitchen staff wearing gas masks (not a joke, another great image from the show).

The segments where he talks to the cooks making the food for the challenges are often the best scenes in the show. Richman welcomes the opportunity to eat each over-sized meal, no matter how difficult the cook warns him it might be to finish the challenge. On a recent rerun, he sat smiling with a Dagwood sandwich that was about as big as his head, bragging about how it would soon be in his belly as if he was Fat Bastard from Austin Powers. And I don't even hold it against him when he stops a few bites from the finish line, seeming to throw in the towel a little early in deference to the restaurant and the cook.

Tonight he's in San Antonio, visiting Big Lou's Pizza (trying the Texas brisket pizza), Lulu's Jailhouse Café (for cinnamon rolls and chicken-fried steaks) and Chunky's Burgers for their Four Horseman Burger. He'll visit 19 cities this season, taking on bacon-wrapped hot dogs in Charleston, South Carolina, chili dogs in Tuscon, Stromboli in New Jersey, reindeer chili and sausage in Anchorage, and what has to be a misprint in the press kit - the 164-lb burger at Mallie's Sports Bar & Grill in Detroit. Even Richman isn't that crazy. I'm in for another season of altruistic face-stuffing.