The Nathan's Famous annual hot dog eating competition is today at Coney Island, where all qualifying competitive eaters will stuff-their-faces off in pursuit of the yellow prize belt, a new world record and the chance to beat the number one ranked eater in the world, Takeru Kobayashi. Kobayashi's record stands at 53.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Nutritionally speaking, that comes out to be a week's worth of calories in those few minutes. Mark, who runs CalorieLab, sent me this intriguing nutritional label that breaks down exactly what the eaters will be trying to consume to break that record: 16,532 calories; 1,077 grams of fat (415g saturated); 1,605mg cholesterol and 36,596mg sodium. On the plus side, the eaters will be getting a fair amount of fiber, calcium and iron in those few minutes.
Check out the whole piece, with further details, at CalorieLab news.
As disturbed as I am at the thought of eating that much food in one sitting, I'm still curious to see who wins. Very curious. If I had to guess, I think that it will be Kobayashi again. I'm still pulling for the up-and-coming Joey Chestnut, whose participation will make for a very interesting match because he managed to set a new American record by eating 50 hot dogs in his qualifier.
Anyone else care to hazard any guesses about the winner?
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