"TakeruKobayashi" news and stories

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

To skin, or not to skin: Do you eat the delicious skins on your baked potato?

With high school graduations right around the corner, YumSugar comes to the rescue with a whole party menu.

Is it possible to be too controlled? The Obamas are under fire for dining decisions that are "too political."

How do little guys eat so much? Tiny Takeru Kobayashi is the pizza king after downing 5 3/4 Pizza Hut P'zones for the top prize in battle pizza.

Be still our cheesy heart -- a reader recipe for Chicken Parmesan.

Want to pre-prepare a tossed salad without sacrificing its crispness? Layer it early with the juicier ingredients on the bottom and toss it right before eating.

Forget the roast beast, it's time to roast beets!

In the Krystal Square Off III World Hamburger Eating Contest in Chattanooga, Tennessee this past weekend, Takeru Kobayashi brought home another championship title by eating 97 hamburgers in 8 minutes. Joey Chestnut came in second, finishing with 91 hamburgers, followed by Patrick Bertoletti in third with 76. All the numbers are up hugely from last year's contest, in which Kobayashi narrowly beat Chestnut with a final total of 67-62 burgers. One other big change from previous years was that the contest was televised on ESPN2, which gives the sport a much wider audience and much more publicity than it enjoyed before.

The contest is known as the "square off" because the burgers that the competitors wolf down are square, but Krystal's burgers hosts the contest because they have been holding eating contests at their stores since the first one opened in 1932. According to company legend, the tradition was set when the second customer challenged the first customer to a head-to-head hamburger showdown.

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The folks over at Gothamist decided to liveblog the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog contest, which is fortunate for everyone who wasn't able to make it out to Coney Island today to watch in person. They reported that, after a grueling 12 minute battle, Takeru Kobayashi emerged victorious with a new world record of 54 hot dogs! That breaks his previous record of 53 1/2.

If you recall from earlier, this means that Kobayashi ate more than 16,500 calories in that short time period. Is it worth it? Well, not only does the winner get the glory of being the most recognized eater in the world, but he (Kobayashi, in this case) gets to take home the mustard-yellow championship belt for another year.

Update: You can view a videoclip here.

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