"competitive eating" news and stories

In late summer/early fall 2010, hot dogs will be making their debut on Broadway -- and we're not talking about the street carts selling standard New York City fare (and really, it's off-off Broadway). Eater chatted with Kristyn Pomranz and Katherine Steinberg -- one of our fellow AOL editors! -- who together wrote Hot Dogs: the Competetive Eating Musical. The pair first collaborated on I Can Haz Cheezburger: the MusicalLOL, mirrored after the same-named site, and atrribute Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Competition as their source of inspiration this go-round.

Head over the Eater to read about their favorite eating competition, why they think competitive eating has gotten more popular and more.

Two venerated Texas culinary traditions – oversized food and chicken-fried steak – have come together on a 10,000-calorie plate at a new Fort Worth restaurant.

Cowtown Diner's ten-pound chicken-fried steak, recently certified as the world's biggest by the Guinness World Records crew, sells for $69.95. But diners can sidestep the fee by polishing off the gravy-laden plate, which includes six pounds of mashed potatoes and a loaf of Texas Toast. "I did research, and no one else was doing this," owner Scott Jones explains. "I wanted to have the bragging rights."

Jones may be the only person involved with the chicken-fried challenge who has reason to brag: While successful eaters get a free meal and an "I Left Full of Bull" T-shirt, every competitor thus far has ended up with a bill and a bellyache.

We're still not quite sure what we watched last night when we flipped on the Travel Channel. Like some sort of weird food-TV hangover, our memories of the evening are vague: loud hooting and hollering; bright neon lights; low, guttural noises. And cheerleaders -- yes, we're pretty sure there were cheerleaders.

When we finally came to this morning, we had a splitting headache and a general feeling of shame and embarrassment. One thing's for certain: We don't think we should've been there.

In a feat of self-promotion that would make P.T. Barnum proud, Adam Richman -- he of "Man v. Food" quasi-fame -- staged a live, televised eatathon in Miami, just in time for Super Bowl XLIV. We don't know about you, but we love us some competitive (a.k.a. speed) eating: men and women with names like Crazy Legs and Crazy Bear wearing weird masks and/or sunglasses, stuffing their faces with as many hot dogs, doughnuts or deep-fried appetizers as possible in just minutes.

But what Richman does isn't quite the same as these Guinness Record-busting fanatics. In case you're not familiar, "MVF" is less of an eat-off than it is the Travel Channel's attempt to spawn their very own Guy Fieri. Looking a little like a cross between John Belushi and Jonah Hill -- although not as funny as either -- Richman travels the nation looking for notable dives featuring super-sized burgers, inhumanly spicy chicken wings or 7-pound burritos.

Watching the eating contestants devour bowls of dumplings at painful speeds -- and even, in some cases, to messy, unfortunate results -- did nothing to quell the appetites of visitors sampling dumplings from around the world at the sixth annual NYC Dumpling Fest. The fest paid tribute to the global bundle Saturday in a event featuring a competitive eating contest, a dumpling how-to class, author appearances and food stands serving edible representations from around the world.

The Lower East Side function supported the Food Bank for New York City with sales of the usual Asian dumplings and a smattering of dumpling cousins: Polish pierogi, Chinese bao, Italian gnocchi, Mexican tamales, Asian pot stickers, Malaysian kuih koci, Indian idli and Filipino palitawa.

Chefs Wai Hon Chu (co-author of "The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide") and Jaden Hair (author of "The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook: 101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough for Tonight's Dinner) did book signings, but the obvious highlight of the event was the eating contest.

Forty contestants, largely male, of all shapes and sizes showed up to voraciously dive into bowls of whole-wheat dumplings at varying speeds. Judged by a panel including city councilman John Liu -- who quipped about the dumpling, "All those ingredients in one little package, what more could you ask for!" -- the gustatory athletes were an amusingly motley bunch.

More on the eating competition, after the jump.

"Coney Island Elephant." Photo: Theremina/Flickr

In a result that shocked ... no one ... elephants defeated humans in an eating contest at Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Coney Island on Friday afternoon. The trio of animals, whose names sound like second string Golden Girls (Bunny, Susie and Minny) beat the people eaters by nearly 3 to 1 -- 505 to 143 hot dog rolls, in case you were counting.

The animals are in their 40s, and moved at what one reporter called a "leisurely" pace, compared to human counterparts who utilized strategies like dipping two buns in liquid, then stuffing them in their mouths.

Ironically enough, when Slashfood reported this story last week, our source at Major League Eating, George Shea, said, "really, the strategy of ... whether or not the elephants will understand they're in a contest: Will they begin as quickly as the eaters? Will they eat in a leisurely fashion?"

It didn't seem to matter. The results, declared organizers, were a "setback for humanity."