USAToday.com reports that a planning subcommittee has recommended denying a permit to the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy, which hosts an IFOCE cannoli eating contest. The committee has a second hearing on the festival tonight.

But last month the Street Activities Permits Subcommittee of the Traffic and Transportation Committee of Community Board 2 — one of hundreds of such neighborhood panels that influence everything from new skyscrapers to street names — took the unprecedented step of recommending against a permit for the feast.

“People use our hallways as toilets,” complains John Casalinuovo, a longtime resident who spoke at the hearing.

When festival officials did not attend the hearing — they say they weren’t notified — the subcommittee voted to recommend the permit be denied.

nytimes.com also has an article

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nerdsonsports.com compared competitive eating to another sport after eating the Godzilla Burger (two half-pound beef patties, four slices of cheese, bacon and onions) at the Eagle Deli in Boston in 4 minutes

Power Gluttony and NHL brawls have more similarities than one might initially think. Both are violent and messy affairs. Both generally end with one person throwing their hands up in surrender (or passing out). And both outwardly appear like nothing but barbaric, unplanned chaos. I want to set the record straight on that last point, though, as a lot of though goes into both pursuits.

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People attending the YMCA Pancakes Days contest in Evansville, IN might want to avoid any contest afterparties put on by the local competitors. CourierPress.com reports that the contest was won by a sex offender who failed to register (the failure is attributed to a government computer mixup.) The winner was victorious for the fourth year in a row. The man he tied with in his first win in 2004 is charged with a stabbing death.

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Kobayashi eating 58 bratwursts at the Johnsonville Bratwurst contest made the Sheboygan Press’ list of notable 2006 events. Clarence Mertz’s efforts to suppress that contest made the list of offbeat events.

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(Thanks Berenice Baker) The BBC blog has an entry about whether they should have covered last month’s mince pie eating contest. The entry currently has 19 comments one of which reads:

By covering it, you endorse it? Rubbish. All this worrying and fussing is silly. I have a very hard time indeed believing that, after seeing the piece, any child would think “I know! I’ll try shoving several packs of mince pies in my mouth, too!” Kids aren’t going to get fat because of coverage of mince pie eating competitions. It’s the equivalent of suggesting that, after watching a football match, a fat child will suddenly be inspired to lose all their excess weight and go and play football. If that was the case, all we’d have to do is shove fat children in front of “Sky Sports” and the problem would be solved.

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The Manchester Evening news reports that the “World Pie Eating Championship”, held at Harry’s Bar in Wallgate has altered its rules to appease the health lobby. The contest format was originally an eat all you can in 3 minutes, but now the winner will be the eater who can eat a single meat pie in the fastest amount of time. A vegetarian pie eating contest was also added.

This is a different contest from the IFOCE endorsed mince pie eating contest that will be held a week from now.

updated this is London and metro.co.uk also have articles

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The East Valley Tribune has an article about the Heart Attack Grill’s dispute with nursing organizations in which the owner of the restaurant, Jon Busso is quoted as saying “To say there is any massagany (sic) here is absolutely ridiculous”

It is somewhat difficult to accept the denial of misogyny in light of the restaurant’s blog entry for October 25:

The entire Grill was taken aback at the sight of this woman as she literally decimated a Quadruple Bypass Burger in front of our very eyes. Every macho man at the bar suddenly gave up his chauvinistic preconceptions of meat being a “man’s game” when she put us all to shame.

SADLY THOUGH, we found out that she was cheating! It turns out that she’s four months pregnant, so it’s obvious the little guy inside of her was helping her eat all that beef in record time. Our Quadruple Bypass Burger challenge is a sport of honor among gentlemen. Her cheating brought such disgrace to the Grill that we had to take her out back and work her over a bit. Hey, I know what you’re all thinking, but we confined our punches to the upper rib cage section to avoid the fetus. I mean we’re not Barbarians for Christ sakes!

Absolutely hilarious, if you find violence against pregnant women a laughing matter. The claims of male superiority in meat eating are difficult to accept given that Sonya Thomas is the only person to win the 9 pound Barrick Burger contest and Kate Stelnick and Lori Weiss are the only people to complete Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub’s 96er burger. Closer to the Grill, 115 pound Becky White of Tucson has completed the 72 ounce steak at the Big Texan Grill.

The nurses have put out a press release detailing their grievances against the restaurant.

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In a recent blog entry, Dave “megamunch” Shoffner announces that for every item of food he eats in competition, he will donate the list price of that item to America’s Second Harvest

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The Sheboygan Times has an editorial on the Johnsonville bratwurst contest which is generally positive.

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Advertising Age has an article about the difficulties IFOCE has experienced obtaining mainstream sponsors like national fast-food chains.

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The Genessee (Michigan) board of commissioners decided to use $150 of county funds to sponsor a hot dog eating contest at Capital Coney Island in Flint Township despite Commissioner Rose Bogardus’ opinion that the contest promotes gluttony and eating disorders. The contest will take place on May 20 from 2-6 pm and an entrance fee of $10 will enable competitors to eat as many hot dogs as possible in 15 minutes. Unspecified prizes will be awarded to the best performers. Funds will go towards the Consortium on Child Abuse and Neglect. Hopefully Sharon Scholten will not show up or there might not be any money left for charity after hot dog expenses have been deducted.

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I would be interested if anyone could explain the logic behind the Guinness Book of World Records not recognizing eating records on the grounds that they are too dangerous, but listing a record for the longest motorcycle backflip (which was broken last night in Las Vegas)

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bloomberg.com reports that Bayer AG, makers of Alka Seltzer, have severed ties with IFOCE and will not sponsor the 2006 US Open of Competitive Eating or any other future eating contests. Bayer’s US marketing executives apparently wanted to continue the sponsorship, but were vetoed by headquarters in Germany.

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PETA has put out a press release announcing that a protest will be held during the Nathan’s qualifier in Sunrise, Florida. The anti-animal cruelty group is also calling on Nathan’s to produce a meatless hot dog. Time will tell if PETA’s protest is more successful that Clarence Mertz’s efforts to stop the Sheboygan Bratfest contest.

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On Wednesday the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would ban credit card companies from processing payments for online gambling. If the bill passes the full House and Senate, it could have a detrimental impact on the funds available for competitive eating contests. The online casino goldenpalace sponsored 7 of the 10 contests sanctioned by IFOCE held in the first quarter of 2006.

Updated 10:30 – goldenpalace.com changed to goldenpalace to reflect that the listed sponsor of some events is goldenpalace.net – Thanks Bob Shoudt

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