Competitive eating

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Competitive eating, or speed eating, is an activity in which participants compete against each other to consume large quantities of food in a short time period. Contests are typically less than 15 minutes in length, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner. Competitive eating is most popular in the United States and Japan, where organized professional eating contests often offer $10,000 or more in prize money. Competitive eaters are sometimes known as "gurgitators," a word used by those close to the sport and an assumed opposite of regurgitation.

Contents 1 History 2 Organizations 2.1 IFOCE 2.2 AICE 2.3 Other associations 3 Notable competitive eaters 4 Contest structure 4.1 Food 4.2 Rules and overview of events 4.2.1 Chipmunking 4.2.2 Dunking 4.2.3 Debris 4.2.4 Vomiting 5 Training and preparation 6 Televised contests 7 Criticisms and dangers 7.1 Criticisms 7.2 Dangers 8 See also 9 References 9.1 Further reading

[edit] History

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Traditionally, eating contests (usually involving pies) were events at county fairs. 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 been held on July 4 virtually every year since 1916 at Coney Island. Recently, this contest has been dominated by IFOCE eater Takeru Kobayashi, who won it consistently from 2001 through 2006; he was dethroned in 2007 by Joey Chestnut. In 2008, Chestnut and Kobayashi tied at 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes (the time span had previously been 12 minutes), and Chestnut won in an eatoff in which he was the first of the two competitors to finish eating 5 hot dogs in overtime, earning Chestnut his second consecutive title. In the 1990s, competitive eating was popular in Japan but is now frowned on.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Organizations

[edit] IFOCE

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The International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) hosts more than 100 "Major League Eating" events worldwide every year. The IFOCE, which first established eating as a sport in the 1990s, 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. Major League Eating, as overseen by the IFOCE, is the only organization that has established extensive safety regulations for events. Among the top eaters who compete only in Major League Eating events are Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi, Sonya Thomas, Eater X, Patrick Bertoletti and Crazy Legs Conti.

The IFOCE will award nearly $400,000 in prize money in 2009. 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 U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, plus 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 high-definition network InHD. Spike TV is also ran a series of one-hour Major League Eating events, featuring the top eaters of the IFOCE, and the IFOCE produced a one-hour docudrama on the Acme World Oyster Eating Contest in New Orleans.

[edit] AICE

A smaller organized league, the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE), established by competitive eater Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman, also sanctions contests. Chapman was a former IFOCE member who defected to form an independent league after disputes over IFOCE contractual restrictions.^[1]

AICE, which adopted the title "All Pro Eating" in 2008, differs from the IFOCE with its adherence to "picnic style" competitive eating rules. Picnic style rules pay "respect to the food and maintains the integrity and dignity and public reputation of that food item."^[2] Under these rules, the league forbids the dunking of any contest foods in water, a practiced used by many IFOCE eaters, and one believed to speed the chewing and swallowing process.

In 2009, competitive eater Coondog O'Karma joined Chapman as a partner, and took over as Director of Operations for AICE.^[3]

[edit] Other associations

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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, with the contest loser typically paying the bill for the winner.

Other open-ended eating contests sponsored by restaurants can involve a challenge to eat large food items, including giant steaks, and hamburgers, in a set amount of time. Those who finish the item are often rewarded by not having to pay for the item, or with a t-shirt and the addition of their name and/or photo on a wall of challenge victors.

[edit] Notable competitive eaters

See List of competitive eaters.

[edit] Contest structure

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[edit] Food

The type of food used in contests varies greatly, with each contest typically only using one type of food (e.g. a hot dog eating contest). Foods used in professional eating contests include hamburgers, ice cream, chicken wings, asparagus, pizza, ribs, whole turkeys, hot dogs among many other types of food.

[edit] Rules and overview of events

Competitive eating contests often adhere to an eight, 10, 12 or 15 minute time limit. Most contests are presided over by a master of ceremonies, whose job is to announce the competitors prior to the contest and keep the audience engaged throughout the contest with enthusiastic play-by-play commentary and amusing anecdotes. A countdown from 10 usually takes place at the end of the contest, with all eating coming to an end with the expiration of time.

Many professional contests also employ a series of judges, whose role is to enforce the contest rules and warn eaters about infractions. Judges will also be called upon to count or weigh each competitor's food and certify the results of the contest prior to the winner being announced.

[edit] Chipmunking

Many eaters will attempt to put as much food in their mouths as possible during the final seconds of a contest, a practice known by professionals as "chipmunking."^[4] If chipmunking is allowed in a contest, eaters are given a reasonable amount of time (typically less than two minutes) to swallow the food or risk a deduction from their final totals.

[edit] Dunking

In many contests, except those adhering to "picnic style rules" mentioned previously, eaters are allowed to dunk foods in water or other liquids in order to soften the food and make it easier to chew and swallow. Dunking typically takes place with foods involving a bun or other doughy parts. Professional contests often enforce a limit on the amount of time competitors are allowed to dunk food.

[edit] Debris

Competitors are expected to maintain a relatively clean eating surface throughout the contest. Excess debris after the contest may result in a deduction from the eater's final totals.

[edit] Vomiting

If, at any point during or immediately after the contest, a competitor regurgitates any food, he or she will be disqualified. Vomiting, also known as a "reversal", includes obvious signs of vomiting as well as any small amounts of food that may fall from the mouth deemed by judges to have come from the stomach. Small amounts of food already in the mouth prior to swallowing are excluded from this rule.

[edit] Training and preparation

Many professional competitive eaters undergo rigorous personal training in order to increase their stomach capacity, speed and efficiency with various foods. 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. Others combine the consumption of water with large quantities of low calorie foods such as vegetables, salad or pasta.

Prior to a marquee event like the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, some eaters, like reigning contest champion Joey Chestnut, will begin training several months before the event with personal time trials using the contest food.^[5] Retired competitive eater, Ed "Cookie" Jarvis, trained by consuming entire heads of boiled cabbage followed by drinking up to two gallons of water every day for two weeks before a contest.^[6]

Due to the risks involved with training alone or without emergency medical supervision, the IFOCE actively discourages training of any sort.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Televised contests

The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is televised live on ESPN each year on July 4.

The annual Krystal Square Off hamburger eating contest has been televised on ESPN and, in 2008, on the FSN South network.

In 2002, the Fox Network aired a two-hour competitive eating contest called the Glutton Bowl.

Spike TV has broadcast several IFOCE-sanctioned competitive eating competitions as part of its "MLE Chowdown" series, including the St. Patrick's Day Chowdown in 2007 (corned beef and cabbage), the "Turkey Bowl" on Thanksgiving day in 2007 (whole turkeys with an undercard cranberry sauce contest), "Wedges 'n Wings" in 2007 (chicken wings and potato wedges), and "Ham 'n Eggs" during Super Bowl halftime in 2008.

[edit] Criticisms and dangers

[edit] Criticisms

The chief criticism of competitive eating is the message the gluttonous sport sends in an age of rising obesity levels among Americans^[7] and the example it sets for today's youth.^[1]

Others, like actor Ryan Reynolds in a scathing editorial on The Huffington Post, contend that competitive eating is yet another example of Western gluttony at a time when so many others around the world are starving.^[8] In the same article, retired competitive eater Don "Moses" Lerman foreshadows the dangers of competitive eating when he admits "I'll stretch my stomach until it causes internal bleeding."

[edit] Dangers

The argument that competitive eating can cause weight gain^[9], which may lead to obesity and elevated cholesterol and blood pressure is a common one, but the theory that competitive eating can cause damage to the stomach and digestive system was the subject of a 2007 study by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The study observed professional eater Tim Janus, who ate 36 hot dogs in 10 minutes before doctors intervened. It was concluded that through training, Janus' stomach failed to have normal muscle contractions called peristalsis, a function which transfers food from the stomach down the digestive tract.^[10]

Other medical professionals contend that binge eating can cause stomach perforations in those with ulcers and gulping large quantities of water during training can lead to water intoxication, a condition which dilutes electrolytes in the blood.^[11]

Gastroparesis, also known as stomach paralysis, is also a concern among those who routinely stretch their stomachs beyond capacity. The condition may lead to the stomach's inability to contract and lose its ability to empty itself. Side effects of gastroparesis include chronic indigestion, nausea and vomiting.^[12]

[edit] See also

Look up gurgitator in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Gluttony
• Wing Bowl

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Eat This Book (2006)
• Horsemen of the Esophagus (2006)
• A Short History of the American Stomach (2008, Frederick Kaufman)
• Clemens Berger: Die Wettesser. Roman, Skarabäus 2007 (The Competitive Eaters. A Novel)