Sonya Thomas and Tim Janus at the 2005 Midway Slots Crabcake Eating Competition

Competitive eating involves the consumption of large quantities of food in a short time period – typically 15 minutes or less. The type of food varies, although contests are primarily focused on fast food or dessert; items are almost always a single type of food, such as hot dogs, pie, or mayonnaise, among many others. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (900x600, 83 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Competitive eating Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (900x600, 83 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Competitive eating Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Sonya The Black Widow Thomas (born Lee Sun-kyung (이선경) in 1969) is a top-ranked Korean-born American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia. ... Eater X in his classic pose at the 2005 Midway Slots Crabcake Eating Competition Tim Janus is a competitive eater from New York City known in the competitive eating community as Eater X. He is a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, and is considered a man of... Fast food is food prepared and served quickly at a fast-food restaurant or shop at low cost. ... A selection of desserts Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses. ... A large hot dog with ketchup A hot dog is classified as a type of sausage or, alternatively, a sandwich on a suitably shaped bun with the sausage and condiments on it. ... This article is about the baked good, for other uses see Pie (disambiguation). ... Mayonnaise made in a food processor with an assortment of standard ingredients Mayonnaise is a thick sauce made primarily from vegetable oil and egg yolks. ...

Competitions

Competitive eating is most popular in the USA and Japan. Traditionally, eating contests were often held as part of a county fair. The recent surge in the popularity of competitive eating is due in large part to televised coverage of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, an annual holiday tradition that has run on July 4 virtually every year since 1916 at Coney Island. Recently this contest has been dominated by IFOCE eater Takeru Kobayashi, who had won it every year from 2001 through 2006. Kobayashi was dethroned in 2007 by Joey Chestnut. For other uses of the word fair see Fair (disambiguation) Fair is the name for the gathering together of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or fairground entertainment. ... Nathans Wall of Fame of contest winners. ... is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Coney Island (disambiguation). ... Takeru Kobayashi ) (b. ... Joseph Christian Jaws Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is a competitive eater from San Jose, California, currently ranked second in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. ...

Competitive eaters, sometimes known as "gurgitators", compete in more than 100 Major League Eating events annually worldwide that are governed by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). The IFOCE, which first established eating as a sport in the 1990s, has recently launched Major League Eating to serve as an umbrella for competitive eating worldwide while also providing a recognized brand for licensing of t-shirts and other products. It features videos of contests and eaters and offers a complete online community similar to MySpace, for eating fans. The website features a video of Joey Chestnut's recent record-breaking performance, when he ate 59.5 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes to top Kobayashi's previous record of 53.75. Major League Eating, as overseen by the IFOCE, is the only organization that has established extensive safety regulations for events. A smaller organization, the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE), established by Coondog O'Karma and Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman, also sanctions contests. The IFOCE awarded nearly $350,000 in prize money in 2006. In addition to a one-hour live broadcast of the Nathan's Famous contest for ESPN, IFOCE has produced a three-hour elimination tournament on ESPN called the Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive Eating and additional hours of ESPN programming on eating for Johnsonville Brats and Krystal hamburgers. The IFOCE also recently produced a series of 30-minute television shows, Eats of Strength, for the high-definition network, InHD. Spike TV is also running a series of one-hour Major League Eating events featuring the top eaters of the IFOCE. The International Federation of Competitive Eating, Inc. ... Major League Eating (MLE) is the International Federation of Competitive Eating brand that designates all top-level competitive eaters, eating events, television specials and merchandise. ... Association of Independent Competitive Eaters. ... Coondog OKarma is a competitive eating champion from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. ... ESPN, formerly an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Other open-ended eating contests sponsored by restaurants can involve a challenge to eat a huge amount of foods such as a giant steak or hamburger, in a set amount of time, typically an hour. Often the prize is that the winner does not have to pay for the large amount of food they just consumed. A steak (from Old Norse steik, roast) is a slice from a larger piece of meat, typically beef. ... A hamburger (or simply burger) is a sandwich that consists of a cooked patty of ground meat that is fried, steamed, grilled, or broiled, and is generally served with various condiments and toppings inside a sliced bun baked specially for this purpose. ...

Outside of the professional realm of eating challenges, amateur eating contests between friends and strangers have found their way into popular culture. Loose associations such as the Federation of Amateur Eating Contests have formed to provide spontaneous challenges to patrons of restaurants at any given time. Members enter into an agreement, often set up so that the loser of the contest pays the bill. From there, onlookers to the challenge are openly invited to enter the contest and "out eat" the competition. Several competitions have seen upwards of 20 contestants competing.

Famous competitive eaters

Peter Dowdeswell topped many Guinness Book of World Records eating contests until they stopped accepting new records. English gourmand Peter Dowdeswell is among the most successful competitive eaters in the recorded history of the sport. ... The Guinness Book of Records (or in recent editions Guinness World Records, and in previous US editions Guinness Book of World Records) is a book published annually, containing an internationally recognized collection of superlatives: both in terms of human achievement and the extrema of the natural world. ...

Crazy Legs Conti, while not among the top ten IFOCE gurgitators, is among the most recognizable and has become a minor celebrity. He has been featured in magazines such as Maxim and FHM. Other top IFOCE gurgitators include the former hot dog eating world record holder and champion Takeru Kobayashi, Ron Koch, Kevin Lipsitz, Rich LeFevre, Joey Chestnut, "Humble" Bob Shoudt and Eric "Badlands" Booker. Some of the more colorful competitors are Super Paul Bonebreaker Barlow, Eric "Steakbellie" Livingston, and El Toro. This article or section is incomplete and may require expansion and/or cleanup. ... The cover of an issue of FHM China, featuring Britney Spears, wearing a bathing suit & necktie The cover of the first issue of FHM in the United States, featuring Rachael Leigh Cook FHM is an international monthly lads mag. ... Takeru Kobayashi ) (b. ... Krazy Kevin Lipsitz is a competitive eater from Long Island NY, and is affiliated with IFOCE, or the International Federation of Competitive Eaters. ... Rich LeFevre (nickname The Locust) is a competitive eater from Henderson, Nevada (suburban Las Vegas). ... Joseph Christian Jaws Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is a competitive eater from San Jose, California, currently ranked second in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. ... Humble Bob Shoudt is a competitive eater from Royersford, Pennsylvania, and a top-ranked member of the IFOCE - International Federation of Competitive Eating. ... Eric Booker, nicknamed Badlands, is a competitive eater from Copaigue, New York. ...

Although most competitive eaters are men, a handful of female competitors, notably IFOCE eaters Sonya Thomas and Carlene LeFevre, and a newer competitor, Juliet Lee, compete among the world's best. Natsuko "Gal" Sone, weighing only 43kgs, has recently demonstrated prodigious feats of eating in Japan, where she is a popular singer in the band Gyaruru. Sonya The Black Widow Thomas (born Lee Sun-kyung (이선경) in 1969) is a top-ranked Korean-born American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia. ... Carlene LeFevre is a competitive eater from Henderson, Nevada (suburban Las Vegas). ... Natsuko Gal Sone (Japanese: ギャル 曽根 菜津子 gyaru Sone Natsuko, b. ...

The UK's first professional eater has yet to join the IFOCE top 10 , but in the coming months expect Jack Woosey , of Formby, Merseyside to join this select band. He has shown time & time again the ease in which he can consume vast amounts of food and drink with his only side effect being gastric wind - a future champion of this sport. Formby is a town on the Irish Sea coast of North West England. ... Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. ...

Training

Being overweight is not necessarily an advantage. In fact, the "fat belt" theory holds that any excess body fat is a disadvantage in that it prevents the stomach from expanding as much as it otherwise could.^[1][2] Stomach elasticity is usually considered the key to eating success, and competitors commonly train by drinking large amounts of water over a short time to stretch out the stomach. The IFOCE actively discourages training of any sort.

Publicity

The culture of competitive eating is portrayed in the documentary film Crazy Legs Conti: Zen And The Art Of Competitive Eating, directed by Danielle Franco and Chris Kenneally.

A 2005 Channel 4 documentary called "The Big Eat" produced by Twofour, followed the search for and training of a British Champion to compete in the Competitive Eating World Championships in New York. Channel 4 is a public-service British television station, broadcast to all areas of the United Kingdom (and also the Republic of Ireland), which began transmissions in 1982. ... A one hour factual entertainment documentary shown on Channel 4 and produced by Twofour which follows the search for and training of a British Champion to compete in the Competitive Eating World Championships in New York. ... Twofour is a UK independent broadcast production company and corporate communications agency. ...

The 2002 program, "Gut Busters," on the Discovery Channel, followed several competitive eaters' roads to the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest as well as explained some of the scientific aspects of competitive eating. Discovery Channel is a United States-based TV channel founded by John Hendricks. ...

In 2006 MTV aired "True Life: I'm a Competitive Eater." It featured Tim "Eater X" Janus and Kobayashi.

On March 17, 2007, Spike TV hosted a broadcast live a competitive eating competition, "St. Patrick's Day Chowdown".

The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4, 2007 got reasonably large coverage on ESPN, partly due to the lack of sporting events that day^{[citation needed]}, and partly because of Joey Chestnut's victory, the first by an American in 9 years.^{[citation needed]} Nathans Wall of Fame of contest winners. ... ESPN, formerly an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day. ...

Criticism

Physicians advise that the intake of vast amounts of food over a small time should not be attempted without safety measures beyond the training that competitive eaters undergo to prepare for the events.

It is possible that competitive eating could lead to stomach pains, obesity and diabetes, although no long term studies have documented any serious injury related to the sport. Many competitors such as Takeru Kobayashi are actually quite thin. As long as competitors undereat while not competing, the total caloric intake need not be enough to promote fat gain. Many competitive eaters train by stretching the stomach with water drinking, which produces zero calories. This article is about the disease that features high blood sugar. ...

Some doctors worry that repeatedly stretching the stomach may diminish its ability to function. Vomiting, though rare among gurgitators, can lead to espohageal tearing and possible infection.^[3]

Competitive eating game shows were very popular in Japan in the 1990s but were pulled from the air following a few choking deaths. Sanctioned eating competitions contests take precautions to prevent choking injuries. “Quiz show” redirects here. ... Choking is the obstruction of the flow of air into a persons lungs by a foreign object, commonly food. ...

Competitive eating may be seen to glorify overeating and gluttony, practices disapproved of by many religions.^[4] Overeating is a behavior that, while generally not a medical problem, in some cases is a symptom of binge eating disorder or bulimia. ... Gluttony can also refer to a character named Gluttony - a homonculus from the anime series Full Metal Alchemist Gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, or intoxicants to the point of waste. ...

Competitive eating in popular culture

• Jughead Jones a character featured in Archie Andrews comics possesses a formidable metabolism and is capable of monstrous eating bouts. As such he's also depicted very fond of competitive eating events which allow him to consume large quantities of food without having to pay for it.
• A competitive eating event was the opening vignette of the episode of The Simpsons entitled Maximum Homerdrive, in which Homer Simpson's opponent, a truck driver, died after consuming the last bite of a monstrous steak, leaving Homer the responsibility of completing the man's cross-country delivery assignment.
• An IFOCE King of the Hill episode, "The Fat and the Furious," had Bill Dauterive and eventually Dale Gribble participate in eating competitions.
• An eating competition at a county fair was featured prominently in the film Beethoven's 2nd.
• The music video of Far East Movement's Round Round features a headband wearing male and several scantily clad women engaging in a hot dog eating competition.[1]
• A competitive pie-eating contest featured in the Stephen King novella The Body, later filmed as Stand by Me.
• The movie Meatballs features a hot dog-eating competition.
• A segment of the Hungarian/French/Austrian movie Taxidermia is set in the Communist period of Hungary and features several professional competitive eaters in a rather surreal way. (The movie is based on three short stories written by Hungarian author Lajos Parti Nagy).[2]
• In an episode of Hey Arnold!, Arnold and other characters participate in a competitive eating contest.
• In an episode of Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, Yumi competes against a golden-toothed boy in a hot dog-eating conest.
• In an episode of Without a trace, the FBI missing persons unit investigates the disappearance of a competitive eater.
• In Malcolm in the Middle, the father is in a competitive eating contest at a town fair in the park.
• In the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode 'Dog Eat Dog', a man literally eats himself to death in an eating contest. The man dies because his stomach filled and expanded into his organs.
• MTV recently aired "I'm a competitive eater" as part of their "True Life" series
• In an episode of SNL, a TV Funhouse animated clip parodied Takeru Kobayashi and Dragonball Z, making him out to be a superhero who saves the day by powering up and eating walls made of hot dogs.
• In an episode of Samurai Champloo; Mugen, Jin, and Fuu all participate in a competitive eating contest to win money. Fuu was about to win; however, she accidentally forfeited while killing a fly.

Forsythe Pendleton Jughead Jones III is a fictional character in Archie Comics, first appearing in December 1941. ... Archie Andrews is the name of the main fictional character in a American comic book series, and the title of a long-run radio series about that character, created by Bob Montana. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Maximum Homerdrive is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons tenth season. ... Homer Jay Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. ... King of the Hill is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butt-head) and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. ... Bill Dauterive Guillaume Fontaine Delatour Bill D’Auterive (voiced by Stephen Root) is a character in the animated series King of the Hill. ... Dale Alvin Gribble (voiced by Johnny Hardwick) is a character in the animated series King of the Hill. ... Beethovens 2nd is the first sequel to the 1992 film, Beethoven. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror novels. ... The Body is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in the collection Different Seasons (1982) with the subtitle Fall from innocence. ... Stand by Me is a 1986 drama film directed by Rob Reiner. ... DVD cover Meatballs is a 1979 movie comedy, about a summer-camp. ... Taxidermia is a 2006 film about three generations from Hungary, including a taxidermist, starting during the Second World War. ... Hey Arnold! was an American animated television series that aired from October 7, 1996 until June 8, 2004 on Nickelodeon. ... An advertisement for Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is an American animated television series following the adventures of cartoon versions of J-Pop musical duo Puffy (also known as Puffy AmiYumi). ... Without a Trace is an American television show set in New York City. ... Malcolm in the Middle is a seven-time Emmy-winning,[1] one-time Grammy-winning[1] and seven-time Golden Globe-nominated[1] American sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. ... CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a popular Alliance Atlantis/CBS police procedural television series, running since October 2000, about a team of forensic scientists. ... SNL could mean: Saturday Night Live Scots National League This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Dragon Ball Z logo (English manga). ... Samurai Champloo ) is an anime series consisting of twenty-six episodes. ...

See also

• List of Competitive Eaters

This is an incomplete list. ...

Bibliography

• Eat This Book (2006)
• Horsemen of the Esophagus (2006)

Eat This Book, by Ryan Nerz, is the first book to explore the world of competitive eating. ... Horsemen of the Esophagus by Jason Fagone is a nonfiction book about the sport of competitive eating and the outsized American appetite. ...

References

1. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/print?id=116496
2. ^ http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/articles/2006/03/19/the_stuff_of_champions?mode=PF
3. ^ http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/09/21/bingeeat.htm
4. ^ http://www.beliefnet.com/story/101/story_10179_1.html#index

External links

• Home of Major League Eating
• The official IFOCE homepage
• Association of Independent Competitive Eaters
• Super Paul Barlow Eating and Art Site
• Competitive Eating Events
• Competitive Eating
• Competitive Eating News
• IFOCE World Fry Bread Eating Champion Erik Denmark's appearance on Seattle Untimely.

Literature

• Clemens Berger: Die Wettesser. Roman, Skarabäus 2007 (The Competitive Eaters. A Novel)