A video of Gal Sone, disguised as a senior citizen, competing in an eating contest Bobby Oregon, a Japanese speaking comedian from Nigeria, can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFNFHCqNq8 Ken’s Twisted Rant has a report (in English) about the appearance.

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The Onion reports that Takeru Kobayashi has retired from not just competitive eating but from food consumption altogether.

According to Kobayashi, the transition from a life of eating to one of not eating has not been easy.

“Do I still crave food? Of course—usually about three times per day,” Kobayashi said. “There are times when the thought of never eating again really hurts. There are times when it burns, times when it aches, times when it induces fainting, and times when my blood pressure suddenly drops and I experience heart palpitations for two straight minutes. Like any change in life, it’s going to be an adjustment.”

Kobayashi also said that, because he was born into a family of lifelong food-eaters, he was afraid to explore other career paths throughout his life, believing that doing so might upset his parents.

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Registration for the IFOCE rib eating contest to be held at the Ash Creek Saloon in Fairfield, CT on August 25 is now open. The purse is $5000.

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(From Kevin Carr) The second podcast is available on eatcast.blogspot.com which has the following contents:

In the second installment of EatCast, Kevin and Neil take a bite out of Crazy Legs Conti’s documentary “Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating.” They chew through the new IFOCE rankings and discuss Kevin’s placement on Super Paul Barlow’s best dressed list.

In the second segment, competitive eating fangirl Liz Kellermeyer calls in to take a look at the field from a fan’s perspective. In the third segment, Kevin and Neil chat with Beautiful Brian Seiken to talk a little more about the new rankings and the future of the sport.

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Barton Grover Howe, an entrant in the rib eating contest for amateurs at the Chinook Winds casino last Saturday, wrote an article for the Newport (OR) News Times about his experience.

It’s been several days since my non-epic moments as a “gustatory gladiator,” as the announcer put it. I’m still vaguely nauseous, and as to that same announcer’s statement that competitive eating is part of the, “evolution of sport,” all I can say is Darwin would probably not put this on his resume.

But given America’s – ahem – appetite for competition, I see why this appeals to people. Indeed, if you were to combine speed eating and NASCAR you could end up with someone throwing up on Jeff Gordon.

That would makes millions of fans in both sports ecstatic.

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(From plasticbamboo via japanprobe) Japanese diners who cannot decide between pizza, hot dogs or burgers might want to consider Pizza Hut’s new “Double Roll” pizza, which has miniature hot dogs in the crust and mini hamburger patties as a topping.

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From Erik Denmark’s blog:

For those of you in Washington State, you can see me on the popular mid-day talk show, Northwest Afternoon on KomoTV (ABC)tomorrow – Thursday, July 18 at 3:00 pm PST.

During the segment I will answer questions from the hosts Kent and Natasha and we will have a one minute jalapeno eating contest.

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BostonNow.com reports that there will be another sausage contest at the Boston Italian Festival in addition to the main sausage contest on Saturday:

On Friday there will be a World Sausage Eating Contest that pairs professional eaters with local celebrities fighting it out for the title of champion. More than 150 pounds of sausage will be devoured, with each contestant responsible for one to four pounds or up to 16 12-inch links.

“We receive a lot of exposure from it, and it has become a highlight of the festival,” says Capogreco. “We’re drawing a lot of competitive eaters, too, such as Tom “The Goose” Gilbert, Ian “The Invader” Hickman and Joshua “The Lumberjack” Hearne.”

Some profiles of the expected competitors are listed on the festival website.

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The York Daily Record has an article about Eric Detweiler, who finished 3rd in the amateur Shoo Fly Pie contest last month.

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From MyFoutainSquare.com

At noon on Friday, August 3, the contestant who consumes the most Skyline Coneys topped with Extreme Habanero Cheese in 3 minutes will be crowned champion!

To register to a chance to compete, complete the official entry form located here: www.myfountainsquare.com/skyline. Fifteen contestants will be randomly drawn and notified on Monday, July 30.

Produced by Skyline Chili and Fountain Square Management Group.

Registration deadline is July 29. First prize is a $100 gift card to Skyline Chili. Other competitors will receive a $25 gift card.

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An IFOCE peanut butter & jelly sandwich eating contest will be held at Knott’s Berry Farm in southern California on August 8 to promote the start of the 2007 Drum Corps International Summer Music Games World Championships.

Registration opens tomorrow at noon eastern. The total purse is $3000.

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Kobayashi has posted a blog entry about his trip to the pizzeria Tim Janus works at.

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MLive has a blog entry (for June 26) about the attempts to break the Rockford Corner Bar’s chili dog record last year:

Wolfe has tried to get Janus (who is ranked No. 7 by the IFOCE), Chestnut and others such as Patrick Bertoletti and Hall Hunt to come back and compete again, but it hasn’t come together.

“They are under contract, so it’s not that easy,” he said.

So, if Nathan’s Famous contest only lasts 12 minutes, and the Corner Bar allows four hours to eat your chili dogs, how long did it take for Janus to eat 43 1/2 of them?

“It took him the whole four hours,” Wolfe said.

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“Kid” Cary Degrosa, who ruled Las Vegas eating before the LeFevres emerged, has uploaded a clip of him competing against Grub Smith in a hot dog eating contest from a British travel program. There is also footage of Kid Cary dancing to “The Hot Dog Man” at a Nathan’s contest.

Kid Cary has talked about making a DVD of his competitive eating exploits. If that project will not materialize, hopefully he will put all his clips on youtube.

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Megamunch has come up with some possible phrases for competitive eating themed buttons that only insiders would get such as:

“Koby reversed!”

“I applied to be a bunnette and all I got was this lousy button”

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As best as I can remember, these are the IFOCE rookies of the year:

2001 – Don Lerman
2002 – Cookie Jarvis
2003 – Dale Boone
2004 – Sonya Thomas
2005 – Tim Janus
2006 – Joey Chestnut
2007 – Arturo Rios, Jr.

Please make any corrections to this list in the comments.

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The Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles have announced tickets which include all you can eat food. The Braves have two categories of tickets:

The first package, available for $25, is an Upper Reserved ticket along the first base side giving fans access to the All-Star Express concession stand. Menu items featured for this package are: hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn and soft drinks.

A Lexus Pavilion package, available for $60, features food from the popular Skip and Pete’s BBQ stand with a wide variety of menu choices: BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, BBQ hot wings, hot dogs, cole slaw, potato salad, corn bread, peanuts, popcorn, soft drinks, Budweiser and Bud Light.

All you can eat Orioles tickets will not be available for Yankees and Red Sox games.

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The Battle Creek Enquirer has a preview of Saturday’s Reuben sandwich eating contest. Some of the expected entrants are:

Among those who will be competing are “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti of Wallingford, Connecticut, Pat “Dr. Delicious” Bruss of Cincinnati, Ohio and Chris “The American” Schlesinger from Bohemia, New York. “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti is considered by some to be the best money eater in the country.

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SFGate.com reports that Joey Chestnut threw the ceremonial first pitch at last night’s Rangers-As game in Oakland.

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A space in this fall’s “Gluttonous King” contest has been reserved for a novice female competitor. The qualifier for this slot, which was won by Mio “Sakura” Takahashi, can be viewed at http://youtube.com/user/euromach2 Gal Sone serves as a co-MC.

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Sports Illustrated NFL reporter Peter King trashed the Nathan’s finals in 2006 and has made a similar comment this year:

We ought to be ashamed in this country when events like hot-dog eating contests gain popularity — the Coney Island fiasco was actually covered on New York sports-talk radio on my vacation — instead of inviting revulsion. Stomach-gorging is not a sport, and it is abominable to try to make it one in a country where too many people go to bed hungry every night.

The Big Lead sports blog has a comment about King’s critique:

I think Point “i” is the funniest thing I’ve seen today. A fatass like King lamenting on the disgusting nature of a gorging contest in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Challenge at Coney Island. It’s one thing to mock a competition that is loosley defined as sport when it involves pounding hotdogs, but doesnt peter king weigh nearly 300 pounds himself, and shouldnt he be the last authority on what counts as disgusting eating habbits? Kobyashi can probably bench peter king himself.

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(from Carey Poehlmann) Fox 16 has a news video and article about yesterday’s Backyard Burger qualifier in Arkansas. Brent Hurst won with 5 burgers in 7 minutes.

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From post-gazette.com’s calendar

EAST LIBERTY: Station Street Hot Dog and Sandwich Shop, 6290 Broad St., hosts a six-minute Hot Dog Eating Contest at 1 p.m. as part of its grand opening and in observance of July as National Hot Dog Month. First prize winner receives $300, a color television and case of hot dogs. Call 412-365-2121.

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I have no idea why a blog called “Music and Songs” would have eating contest results, but it reports that a man from Sterling, VA won the “suicide” wing eating contest at the Starboard in Dewey Beach, DE by eating 137 wings in a half an hour.

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Liz reports that Arturo Rios, Jr. was named the 2007 IFOCE rookie of the year. The new poll asks who you believe should have been awarded that honor. I am defining 2007 rookie as someone who first entered an IFOCE contest in 2006.

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