Joey Chestnut is a choice in ESPN.com’s online poll to determine the 5 members of the 2007 All-SportsNation Team. If the poll is like last year’s, voters will be able to vote an unlimited number of times.

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(Via Wing Tut) January 2008 will not pass without any eating contests of significance. ESPN 1250 of Pittsburgh has released details about the 2008 Wing Championship Series. There will be six qualifiers from January 9 to 19 with the finals taking place on January 25. First prize is a trip to Barbados.

In other upcoming independent contest news, the Princeton Oyster Bowl has started a blog.

A list of the qualifier dates and sites is available after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

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International Week concludes with an entry about a 1965 contest held at a Boston International House of Pancakes for collegiate mixed gender pairs. The Harvard student paper reports that the Harvard team was victorious over the Brandeis team in that contest. The article was written by Michael Barone, who would go on to become one of the most famous analysts of American politics.

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(Pictures are from Kobayashi’s trip to a night market, not the contest)

Kobayashi reports that he attended, but did not compete in, a mutton eating contest held on December 8 in Taiwan. This year’s winner ate 26 bowls, less than half of the 55 bowls Kobayashi consumed when he won the contest last year. A bonus of a million Taiwan dollars (about $30,000 US) would have been awarded had Kobayashi’s record been broken. Kobayashi said he intends to compete in next year’s mutton contest.

Google News of Taiwan has some articles about the contest (translated)

Kobayashi has made blog entries about all his contests, but it is now a month since the Turkey Bowl was televised, and he has provided no commentary on that event. Kobayashi’s last post about United States competitive eating was his tribute to Kevin Lipsitz in early November.

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Jill Stoler has some pictures and a travelog (with no results) of her trip to Japan on her myspace page.

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Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota, held a press conference to promote his competing in an eating contest that will take place at a pro wrestling event on New Year’s Eve. Joe Menchetti is not mentioned in the press release.

update Yahoo Sports has an article on Japanese New Year’s Eve extravaganzas:

On no night is that more evident than New Year’s Eve, which has, over the past seven years, become a cultural tradition as the biggest fighting night of the year.

Boxers, kickboxers, pro wrestlers, actors, comic book giants, comedians and Olympic medalists in a variety of sports have all shared the stage in the past, and will continue to this year when two major shows are held on the same night, one on pay-per-view and the other on network television.

Hong-man’s MMA career consists of 16 seconds last year on New Year’s Eve against Nigerian-born comedian Bobby Ologun. The match consisted of Hong-man, 15 inches and 142 pounds heavier than his foe, dragging Ologun on the ground to the center of the ring by his ankles after Ologun tried a flying knee and landed on his back on the mat.

Bobby Ologun has appeared in several Gal Sone videos, including her competing disguised as a German grandmother and the octopus hunting trip in Canada.

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In an column in the Sydney Morning Herald, Sonya Thomas offers some advice on the best way to eat a lot this holiday season. The column also recommends the video of Sonya’s victory in the 2005 turkey contest.

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The basementmusing blog reports on television offerings at a bowling alley:

So he changed the chanel to good old TSN. To his shegrin what was on was the Krystal burger eating competition. What we began to see unfold was dudes by the name of Crazy Legs Conti eating burgers in front of thousands of screaming hillbillies from Tennessee.

TSN is the Canadian sports channel. It is interesting that this year’s finals would be rerun on Canadian televison, but has not been shown (to the best of my knowledge) on ESPN / ESPN2 since it originally aired in October.

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In a thread about Kate Stelnick’s completion of Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub’s 96er burger, a commenter from Australia calling herself “QueenQeeko” makes the following claim:

And I look at that burger and I seriously think I could devour that in less than two hours tops.

Here is one small example of what I am capable of. I went to the mall with two friends not all that long ago. This was their silly attempt at making me more of a girly-girl and made me wear pink. I showed them later. Anyways, by late morning we decided for an early lunch. My friend Kitty Kat and I went straight for the Chinese buffet. Now here is where I’m also a master of stacking food. I don’t know how tall the pile was but I know that I did it well. I ordered a large size plate and stacked it up with at least 8 pounds of food. Huge meal. Kitty Kat did the same (she’s taller than me too and said I’d never down my meal).

In the space of 20 minutes, I chowed down all of the food I had bought, then ate half of what Kat had bought (she couldn’t make it pass a third of it). I took the rest home in a plastic container. Immediately after this I bought a tray of doughnuts and a gigantic smoothie that was 90% fruit, yogurt and icecream.

That day I out-ate what every member of my family can do and they are all big eaters. And I still felt I had room for something else.

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NPR has an article about the effect of American internment and occupation on Japanese and Japanese-American cuisine:

Shousei Hanayama, the priest at the Buddhist Temple in Watsonville, Calif., remembered that after the war, American soldiers in Okinawa brought hot dogs and introduced them into the island culture.

Hanayama noted that hot dogs are still a part of the Japanese culture, pointing to the story of Takeru Kobayashi, who can eat 63 hot dogs in under 12 minutes. The winner of six consecutive Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contests, Kobayashi revolutionized and popularized competitive eating with a technique called “Japanesing,” separating hot dog from bun as he crams to victory.

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Kana Kanisawa, a member of the three person team competing against three Americans has released a DVD apparently consisting of her posing in bathing suits. She did an interview about the DVD and there is also some pictures from the press conference announcing the release.

There is no nudity in the links above, but they may not be safe for all workplaces.

In other news from the 3 person team contest, Jill Stoler says she is back from Japan in her myspace page.

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icDumfries has an article about a Brussel sprouts eating contest held at a supermarket in Dumfries, Scotland. A collection on the spot raised £80 for charity.

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A video of an “Empire State Burger” eating contest held in Tampere, Finland is available on youtube. The sandwich is claimed to be the largest commercially available burger in Europe. huviopas.net has an article about the burger (online translation from Finnish to English is not available) The “Empire State Burger” appears to be composed of several conventionally sized hamburgers stacked on top of each other.

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The New York Times archive reports on a proposed eating contest from 70 years ago:

Kin Fu Ki, 32-year-old Korean Buddhist priest, who is 7 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 303 pounds, plans a trip to the United States to challenge American giants to an eating contest.

Kin Fu Ki wanted to compete against 8 ft. 5 in. Robert Wadlow. The only other article about Kin Fu Ki says he eats five times as much rice as a Japanese soldier.

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On AICE news, the standings of the AICE vs. Japan contests have been updated. Japan currently holds a 3 to 1 lead. Contest winners are Tomoko Miyake, Gal Sone, Elizabeth Canady and Yamamoto.

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The new poll asks how many eaters living in the United States would be found in a unified ranking of all the world’s top competitive eaters.

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Before this week’s AICE vs. Japan contest, the most recent Japanese eating contest in which multiple Americans competed was probably Food Battle Club from 2001. Not only did Carlene LeFevre and Charles Hardy compete, pro wrestler King Kong Bundy also ate in that contest. Bundy received a higher ranking (#14) than either Carlene LeFevre (#18) or Charles Hardy (#15) (I am not sure if the ranking occurred before or after the event).

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Peter Czerwinski (DedicatedForLif/FuriousPete123), winner of the most recent video based eating contest on bodybuilding.com, has uploaded some videos of his eating challenges to his youtube page (page 2). He has eaten a 72 ounce steak in 12 minutes and a 106 ounce steak in a half an hour. Most recently, he attempted to consume 25 cups of rice (he managed to finish 18).

In another international steak eating challenge video, a blonde woman consumes a large steak of unlisted size in Argentina.

And in another bodybuilding / competitive eating video, Juris “Dr. Big Time” Shibayama has uploaded a video of him bench pressing 500 pounds.

update In more Dr. Big Time news, he says that his Wing Bowl stunt suggestion has been accepted and he will attempt it on January 8. The person he talked to at WIP did not mention any geographic restrictions for Wing Bowl 16 stunt attempters, so non-Philly residents who want to compete might consider submitting a stunt request. I have not been able to find any online Wing Bowl 16 rules.

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(From R Suzuki) Oricon reports that Gal Sone defeated wrestlers Tani Ara Homare Nozomi and Nobukazu Hirai in a curry eating contest held during a pro wrestling card. Gal Sone ate 3 kilograms of curry in 9 minutes and 23 seconds to win and says the experience has made her want to become a pro wrestler.

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There is so little going on in United States competitive eating, I have decided to declare this “International Week” (which actually started last Friday afternoon). Unless major news breaks, all posts will be about non-US contests or eaters until this weekend.

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cocostd111s has uploaded two new videos from Food Battle Club to youtube: the introduction to “King of Masters” and a bottle drinking race.

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AICE News reports that Tomoko Miyake defeated Ian Hickman by being the first to finish over 9 pounds of curry.

The blogs of Tomoko Miyake, Takuya Yamamoto and Saori Nakayama report that they recorded a television appearance today, but have no results or pictures of Americans.

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Parkstone, England resident Louisa Tyrrell turned 109 in April. An article in the Daily Echo last year provides an unexpected theory for her longevity:

Each morning Louisa, who is believed to be the oldest person in the area, breakfasts on porridge with honey and toast with chocolate spread at her home in Wessex Lodge Private Retirement Home, in Munster Road, Parkstone.

But her favourite treat, which she has been promised for her birthday party along with cake, ice cream and chocolates, is jam and bread.

The home’s manager Julie Dayman, said: “She eats like a horse, but she particularly likes sweet things. Sometimes she’ll eat two dinners and two puddings.”

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Here is the blogroll for the team of Japanese eaters competing against AICE eaters this week in case anyone wants to follow the contests by looking at Japanese blogs. I do not believe any entries about the competitions have been posted yet.

Natsuko “Gal” Sone
Tomoko Miyake
Taku “Artist” Izumi
Saori Nakayama
Kana Kanisawa
Hatsuyo Sugawara (no blog)
Takuya Yamamoto

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Alex from Panama, a one time commenter on this site, has uploaded two videos to youtube. In one video, he drinks a half gallon of milk in 18 seconds, in the other, he consumes a whole gallon in two minutes.

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