Competitive eating

Competitive eating involves the consumption of large quantities of food in a short time period – typically 12 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.

Background

Competitive eating is most popular in the USA. Traditionally, eating contests were often held as part of a county fair. The recent surge in 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 completely dominated by IFOCE eater Takeru Kobayashi, who has won it every year since 2001.

Competitive eaters, known as gurgitators, compete in more than 100 events annually worldwide that are governed by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). 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 more than $230,000 in prize money in 2005. 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 will produce three additional hours of ESPN programming on eating this year.

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.

This gurgitator's life

Most competitive eaters are men, although a handful of female competitors, notably IFOCE eaters Sonya Thomas and Carlene LeFevre, compete among the world's best. Being overweight or simply having a large stomach 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. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/print?id=116496http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/articles/2006/03/19/the_stuff_of_champions?mode=PF 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.

The culture of competitive eating is portrayed in the documentary film Zen And The Art Of Competitive Eating, directed by Danielle Franco and Chris Kenneally. 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 Ron Koch, Rich LeFevre, and Joey Chestnut.

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.

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.

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

Criticisms of competitive eating

Physicians advise that the intake of vast amounts of food over a small time should not be attempted without safety measures. 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 competitive eating. 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.http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/09/21/bingeeat.htm

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.

Competitive eating may be seen to glorify overeating and gluttony, practices disapproved of by most religions.http://www.beliefnet.com/story/101/story_10179_1.html#index