For me, competitive eating brings to mind a scene from Cool Hand Luke, in which Luke (the inimitable Paul Newman) announces that he can eat 50 eggs. I always thought that was pretty cool. Though I've never reached those heights, I remain proud of my capacity to eat unfeasibly large amounts of pizza at one sitting.
Competitive eating contests aren't too fashionable these days. So respect to the max to Nathan's Famous Corporation, the Coney Island restaurant, which continues to stage a world renowned annual hot dog eating contest, thereby celebrating the brand's unique heritage and provenance and poking a finger in the belly of obesity.
The tradition began in 1916, when four US immigrants set out to settle the score as to who was the most patriotic. Today, Joey "Jaws" Chestnut is the undisputed patriot. In 2009, he ate 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, beating his previous year's record by 9 dogs.
If you fancy eating for your country, check out the International Federation of Competitive Eating website. There's a World Burrito Eating Contest, or you may prefer The Upper Crust World Pizza Eating Championship. You can even scope out the competition - a surprisingly diverse bunch of somewhat bonkers men and women, from doctors to long distance swimmers to pure greedy guts.
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