• Asparagus contest at the Stockton, CA Asparagus festival returns April 25
• Video of Pat Bertoletti completing a 29 inch pizza in 34 minutes without assistance. The pizza is probably from Barlo’s Pizza in Indianapolis
• Man vs. Food Merchandise page with 3 t-shirts and a food journal (The graphic on the right is one of the t-shirt designs)
• The LA Times reports that the Los Angeles challenge on Man vs. Food will be the spicy ramen called Special #2 at Orochon Ramen and the other foods will be the French Dip sandwich at Phillipe the Original and the Manuel Special burrito at El Tepeyac
• The Cherry Cricket will be another Denver Man vs. Food location
• ESPN.com clip of Kobayashi’s fruitcake record clip
• Chicago chili contest January 31
• Pie eating contest on UK Big Brother in honor of Obama’s inauguration

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According to a comment made this morning, Micah “Wing Kong” Collins was told that “professionals” would not be allowed to compete in Wing Bowl 17 when he called 610 WIP to inquire about qualifying for that contest. In February, Angelo Cataldi said that he would like to limit entry to the 2009 Wing Bowl to amateurs. WIP appears to have followed through with that restriction.

Cataldi apparently defines “professional eater” as someone who has been associated with a professional eating organization regardless of the level of success obtained in eating contests. If that definition is used to limit entry into Wing Bowl 17, “Gentleman” Jerry Coughlan will probably be the favorite if there is any legitimacy to his top five finishes the previous two Wing Bowls.

In other Wing Bowl news, a press release announces that mail-order chicken wings endorsed by Bill “El Wingador” Simmons will be available at RastelliAtHome.com

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A comment on Megamunch reports that the towel Megamunch misplaced and subsequently acquired by a consortium called “The Light Elves” is now up for auction on craigslist. The bidding will start at $1 and will close on December 1.

The value Megamunch places on his towel brings to mind the following quote from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc, etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

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• Badlands Booker, Paul Barlow and Andrew Lane are the other listed entrants for the Birmingham qualifier, but Booker’s twitter says he will probably pass on the contest and hope 51 suffices for a wild card
• NYC Famous Famigila pizza contest prize format restructured according to comment – first prize reduced to $5,000 and number of cash prizes increased to 7
• Article with the official results and video about the Chicago jalapeno contest
• Article about Stu Mesnier’s attempt to repeat as St. Louis sushi champion
• MissBusyLady unveils her apparel for female competitive eating fans.

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• Juliet Lee has an Ash Creek rib contest report
• Clam eating contest in Seattle Saturday, first prize is $100
• Ryan Nerz podcast interview in Conversations on the Road
• Furious Pete is doing marketing research on a Furious Pete hat
• A Washington Post article on the rise of college Food Studies programs reports that “Horsemen of the Esophagus” is required reading one course.
• The Wall Street Journal reports that Japanese convenience store chain Lawson announced an annual increase in same store sales of 13%. Gal Sone endorsed a line of meals for Lawson in May.

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According to Badlands Booker’s myspace blog, his new line of Hungry & Focused apparel will be released on August 1. A myspace page is dedicated to the line and has pictures of the T-shirt styles which include three new designs in addition to the traditional 6XL logo.

In other competitive eating clothing news, Paul Barlow has posted a ranking of the best dressed Nathan’s finalists. He also has a myspace gallery (requires login).

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