At left: Takera Kobayashi competes at the annual Independence Day hot dog eating contest at Nathan's on Coney Island.Nothing says summer like a nice juicy hot dog slathered in mustard and relish. Throw on a few onions and you’ve got yourself a great meal. But what about eating 53 hot dogs in 12 minutes? As crazy as it sounds, a Japanese man downed more than five dozen hot dogs — without condiments — to take home home first prize at the annual Independence Day hot dog eating competition on Coney Island.
His bright yellow hair dominating the eating table, Takera Kobayashi, 27, earned his sixth straight title at the the original Nathan’s Famous hot dog stand in Brooklyn, where the contest is held each year.
After his victory, a very full Kobayashi lifted up his shirt to reveal a bloated belly, which featured defined abdominal muscles that are a sign of his physical fitness. Even though he’s a competitive eater, Kobayashi has little body fat and appears to be in top physical condition.
Maybe Kobayashi’s secret to keeping the weight off has something to do with his unique diet. Take his dinner a few years ago for example. Kobayashi downed 17.7 pounds of fried cow brains in several minutes to win $25,000. Crazy? Yes. But it’s all part of the strange world of competitive eating.
People will eat just about anything at a competition. There are jalapeno eating contests, hard boiled egg eating contests, matzo ball eating contests and, of course, the original watermelon and pie eating contests. Heck, there would be rock eating contests if our teeth and digestive systems could handle all those hard minerals.
What’s more surprising is that competitive eating is governed by a federation, which is dedicated to preserving the integrity of this activity — it’s known as the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE).
According to IFOCE’s Web site, there are members and affiliates of that organization throughout the world, including the United States, Japan, England, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Thailand and the Ukraine.
Apparently competitive eating is indeed a sport, at least in the IFOCE’s eyes. But I just can’t see competitive eating making its way into the Olympics anytime soon.
If you’re interested in seeing one of these competitions in person, the next one will be held at Lincoln City, Ore., as eaters vie for the top spot at the Chinook Winds World Rib Eating Championship.
A rib eating contest in Oregon? Something doesn’t sound right about that to me. Memphis, Kansas City or Austin, now that’s where you have rib eating competitions.
But I digress.
Visiting the IFOCE Web site is fascinating. There are records, rankings and even eater “bib sheets” that show pictures and brief biographies of those brave enough to eat five dozen of this or six dozen of that.
Cookie Johnson, 39, of Nesconsett, N.Y., weighs in at 419 pounds and can eat 21 cannoli — a favorite Italian dessert — in six minutes, according to his bib sheet. What about chicken wings? No problem. He can down more than two pounds of them in five minutes. And that chicken fried steak never had a chance, as Johnson devoured six 11-ounce steaks in 12 minutes. These amazing culinary feats were accomplished on different occasions, of course, but they are still very impressive.
Then there’s Sonya Thomas, a thin-as-a-rail 37-year-old woman from Alexandria, Va., who many consider the messiah of competitive eating. Her records include: 8.31 pounds of Vienna sausages in 10 minutes, 11 pounds of cheesecake in nine minutes, 80 chicken nuggets in five minutes, 167 chicken wings in 32 minutes and 65 — yes, 65 — hard boiled eggs in just under six minutes.
While most of us would have grabbed the barf bags after eating a fraction of the items listed above, eaters like Thomas and Johnson wear these statistics as badges of honor. Afterall, as they say, they’re “in it to win it.”
A quote from Thomas’ bib sheet offers the perfect summation: “There is an century-old prophesy within the competitive eating community, dismissed by most, that foretells the rise of the One Eater, a woman who will electrify America's gurgitators and lead them to international victory once again.
“Like Joan of Arc before her, this eater will be slender of stature, but mighty in strength. In recent months, the prophesy has been mentioned more and more frequently as the eaters have watched Sonya Thomas excel in nearly every contest she enters.”
Someone get this woman an antacid.
On the Web: Visit the IFOCE site online.
