Three different dates have been announced for the Nathan’s qualifier in New Orleans:

• May 17 – Original announcement on majorleagueeating.com
• June 4 – Sam’s Club press release
• June 7 – IFOCE.com contests page

June 7 appears to be the most likely date because June 4 is a Wednesday and there would probably be more information if the qualifier was this weekend.

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• Beautiful Brian’s thoughts on Badlands Booker’s possible comeback. (He thinks that Tim Janus will compete in the Shea Stadium qualifier)
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• Megamunch has a blog entry about his participation in City Chase, which had a dog food eating segment
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• 8.5 month pregnant woman competes in taco eating contest
• Videos of Scozzy Bone at the Acme Oyster Eating contest: video 1, video 2
• Dallas Nathan’s qualifier to be held at Plano Sam’s Club
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• CE: sport / not a sport debate in New Mexico State student paper

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From Jon B & Beautiful Brian emails and AP article

1 Pat Bertoletti 35 dozen 8 minutes
2 Juliet Lee 31 1/2 dozen 8 minutes
3T Crazy Legs Conti 24 dozen (called the defending champion in the AP article)
3T Chris Abatsas 24 dozen
5? Scott “Scozzy Bone” Zukowski, 20 dozen
Tim Brown DQ reversal after 14 dozen

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(From Bruce “The Hangman” Pobanz) Some information about Saturday’s oyster eating contest is available on acmeoyster.com (no direct link, click on contest, then “oyster eating”) The contest will begin at noon at the French Market.

There is also a link to a contest entry form, but it appears to be for the 2005 contest.

update from SykoBozo (who will also be competing) comment – NewOrleansMagazine.com has a possible field:

Nipping at Bertoletti’s heels will be Eater X, a face-painting burrito champ out of New York City’s who is ranked #4 in the world. Also competing is Crazy Legs Conti who is perhaps best known for launching his eating career by winning the first Acme World Oyster Eating Championships in 2002. Baltimore’s Julie Lee (ranked 10th), Seattle’s Erik “The Red” Denmark (ranked 12th), Chicago’s Gravy Brown (15th) and Birmingham’s Chip Simpson (ranked 6th) will also compete.

Louisiana’s top eater, Damon Serignet of Baton Rouge, has promised to defend the honor of the Pelican State in this competition.

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• Domenico Alesi on possible eating contest foods
• The Sonya Thomas song on “Stick to Blogging” is in jeopardy
• Skinnyboy has posted a Travel Channel segment about the Acme Oyster House to youtube
• The winner of Sunday’s mussel eating contest in Philadelphia – he ate 10 pounds of mussels in 4 hours
• Kobayashi used in a Hungry Sisters’ economic textbook example
• IFOCE.com page about Kevin Ross

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(From Domenico Alesi comment) An oyster eating contest at the Acme Oyster House in New Orleans has been added to the IFOCE schedule on April 12. Registration opens Thursday and prizes have yet to be determined.

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(From El Toro) AOL News has an article about a dispute two diners had with the Manchuria Restaurant in Houma, Louisiana:

Houma accountant Thomas Campo said the men were charged an extra $10 each on Dec. 21 because they made a habit of dining exclusively on the more expensive seafood dishes, including crab legs and frog legs.

“We have a lot of big people there,” said Campo, who spoke for owner Li Shang, whose English is limited. “We don’t discriminate.”

Labit denied ever being told he would be asked to pay more than the standard adult price.

The argument grew heated, and police were called.

The article currently has 1979 comments

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Whitd has some videos recorded from the audience from Saturday’s grits eating contest. A news video is also available.

Hall Hunt has some pictures and a report from the contest.

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From IFOCE.com & STBW.com

Louisiana Downs World Grits Eating Championship from Bossier City, LA (10 Minutes)

1. Pat Bertoletti 21 lb.
2. Tim “Eater X” Janus 20 lb.
3. Joey Chestnut 19 lb.
4. Sonya Thomas 18.5 lb.
5. Hall Hunt 15.5 lb.
6. Patrick Van Dam 13.5 lb.
7. Timm “the Intimidator” Dilling 5 lb.

I think this is the first time Tim has beaten Joey.

update ShreveportTimes.com has an article on the contest which lists the top 7 finishers. It also has a gallery

KATC also has an article

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The Shreveport Times has a preview of Saturday’s grits eating contest at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs which lists some expected entrants:

At the upcoming contest at Louisiana Downs, the early favorite is top-ranked Joey Chestnut, who upset Takeru Kobayashi at the 2007 Fourth of July hot dog eating contest by downing 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Challenging Chestnut will be third-ranked Pat Bertoletti, a mohawked chef from Chicago who once ate 16 pounds of strawberry shortcake in eight minutes and recently upset Chestnut in a pork rib contest. Challenging Bertoletti will be Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas, the 100-pound woman who once ate 552 oysters in 10 minutes; fourth-ranked tiramisu champ Tim “Eater X” Janus; SPAM-eating champ Rich “The Locust” LeFevre; and seventh-ranked “Humble” Bob Shoudt, a pie specialist from Royersford, Pa.

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(From the Sicilian) The first major IFOCE event in Louisiana since Katrina will take place on September 29 when Harrah’s Louisiana Downs Casino & Race Track in Bossier City will host the World Grits Eating Championship Registration opens tomorrow at noon eastern. The total purse is $10,000.

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IFOCE.com reports that Pat Bertoletti broke Sonya Thomas’ Acme Oyster House record by eating 53.5 dozen oysters in 48 minutes. Sonya Thomas set the previous record when she ate 46 dozen in a 10 minute record, then ate an additional 6 dozen following the awards ceremony.

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An excerpt from “Horsemen of the Esophagus” about Sonya Thomas’ record setting victory in the 2005 Acme oyster contest has been uploaded to jasonfagone.com.

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I hope that everyone in the southern half of the central time zone came through Katrina as well as possible. It is hard to believe that damage was less than originally expected when seeing the all images of devastation.

Updated Aug 31 12:39 am If the first day was slightly better than expected, the second and subsequent days appear to be much much worse. My prayers go out to everyone affected by this catastrophe.

Here is a much happier instance of another force of nature visiting Louisiana from earlier this year.

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