I don’t idolize just anybody but these guys really impress.
The world is running out of heroes, but maybe it’s still too early to count out the human race. In New York, there lives a man whose recent accomplishment shows that there isn’t much we can’t achieve if we put our mind, and in this case, our mouth, into it.
This week Joey Chestnut became the world’s hot-dog eating champion, knocking off six-time title holder Takeru Kobayashi and my hat is off to him. Chestnut, competing in the annual Fourth of July competition, broke his own world record by inhaling 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes – a staggering one every 10.9 seconds – before a screaming crowd in Coney Island.
“If I needed to eat another one right now, I could,” the 23-year-old Californian said after receiving the mustard yellow belt emblematic of hot-dog eating supremacy
Almost as good as the event was the newspaper story describing it: “The two gustatory gladiators quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the 17 competitors, processing more beef than a slaughterhouse within the first few minutes. The two had each downed 60 hot dogs with 60 seconds to go when Chestnut, the veins on his forehead extended, put away the final franks to end Kobayashi’s reign.”
You know, we all come to our rightful place in life after a while and Joey Chestnut, obviously, has found his mission as a speedy consumer of tube steaks. There are worse fates. And there are worse foods to be ingested in a hurry.
I can happily live out the rest of my life taking a pass on seeing how fast I can gobble up some of the disgusting things people will eat, but to further the development of homo sapiens as a species, there is a record involving one particular sandwich for which I would be willing to compete. And that is the grilled cheese, a few of which I’ve put away in my life, especially during my bachelor years.
There are annual contests in the U.S. with prizes nearing $30,000. The current world record belongs to Sonya Thomas who devoured 25 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes in a contest in 2005.
Stand back. Sonya, my dear. I’m sure I can do better than that.
Without even trying.
©2007 Jim Hagarty
