Sports Illustrated recently made its entire archive free. Some competitive eating articles from the last 5 years follow:

• 2008 – article about Wing Bowl 16
• 2007 – Rick Reilly dines with Joey Chestnut in the LA Dodgers all you can eat section
• 2007 – Nathan’s preview about Joey Chestnut
• 2007 – list of IFOCE records
• 2006 – paragraph about planned Wing Bowl movie
• 2006 – Steve Rushin column containing the “degree of a lazy susan” metaphor
• 2004 – post-Nathan’s article

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Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, Oregon will host a doughnut eating contest for mayoral candidates on May 2. The competition appears on the calendar of candidate Sho Dozono. Voodoo Doughnuts made a doughnut in honor of Dozono’s birthday.

Liz K blogs that she will travel to Portland next week and plans to make a trip to Voodoo Doughnuts.

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Frank Pastore, former Cincinnati Reds pitcher and current radio talk show host, reports in his blog that Joey Chestnut broke his record for the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak and side items. Chestnut’s mark was 8 minutes and 52 seconds, breaking Pastore’s 21 year old record of 9 and a half minutes.

update A podcast of Frank Pastore’s appearance on the Hugh Hewitt show is available. Pastore’s segment starts around the 18:50 mark.

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In a blog entry from February 18, Angelo Cataldi responds to a request to have a Delaware Valley residency requirement for the 2009 Wing Bowl with another proposed restriction:

Our thought right now – 11 months away from the next Wing Bowl – is to have an event that is strictly for amateurs in 2009. Anyone who is or has been associated with a professional-eating organization would be ineligible. I hope – if we can get this plan approved – that it will address many of the concerns about the competition in Wing Bowl 17.

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The University of Maryland student newspaper has an article about Brian “Eatin'” Keaton, who will compete in the North American Collegiate Eating Championship in San Diego next month. Keaton’s major is food science.

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A video of the giant burger eating contest for three person teams recorded at the Clinton (NJ) Station Diner on February 2 televised on NTV March 20 can be seen at http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6482620yWdSfN4E The video focuses on the Japanese team consisting of Takuya Yamamoto, Tomoko Miyake and Taku Izumi and the team of Ian Hickman, Elizabeth Canady and Pete Maurizio, but Jill Stoler’s team also makes an appearance. The video also contains footage from a contest for Japanese team members at a Windmill Hot dogs.

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The Pizza Machine in Springfield, Illinois offers a 40 inch pizza. The pizza is delivered to a diner’s table by a crane. $500 will be awarded to a team of two that can finish the pizza in under an hour.

Just Two Guys has a blog entry about attempting the 40 inch challenge and Brad J Ward has a gallery of the restaurant.

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Voting for the first round of the Philadelphia City Paper’s “Philly Madness” has concluded, and the Wing Bowl has lost to The Philadelphia International Cycling Championship by a margin of 43% to 57%.

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A group from roadfood.com toured New York City hot dog restaurants and took a picture of the Nathan’s Wall of Fame which reveals that the champions from 1984 to 1987 have been dropped to make for space for future winners. Removing these listings eliminates whatever inaccuracies they might have contained, but discrepancies are still present between the remaining entries and newspaper archives.

Maureen Dowd, now a famous columnist, wrote the article about the 1984 contest. She does not mention the winner’s name.

We will see if the truncation of the champions listing will foreshadow modifications to the picture section of the Wall of Fame.

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Tomoko Miyake reports that the team burger eating contest held at the Clinton Station Diner on Super Bowl weekend will be televised on March 20. The contest will be televised by NNN news, which usually posts its competitive eating videos online.

In other Japanese contest news, R Suzuki reports that Hatsuyo Sugawara won a televised sushi eating contest. The top 5 in that contest:

1. Hatsuyo Sugawara, 107 plates
2. Takuya Yamamoto, 104 plates
3. Nobuyuki Shirota, 102 plates
4. Tomoko Miyake, 81 plates
5. Taku “Artist” Izumi, 74 plates

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AICE News reports that the even-year Carnegie Deli pickle eating contest will take place on May 21.

PressConnects.com reports that Joe LaRue will attempt to defend his pancake eating title in Marathon, NY on April 5.

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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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• “Badlands” Booker is Sonya Thomas’ featured eater for the second quarter of 2008
• Page on the eating contest at CollegiateNationals.com – only the winner of the qualifier will appear in the finals
• A press release for Phoenix Battle of the Bone says it is restricted to amateurs. The rules appear to make no such restriction
• Lufkin, TX tamale festival runs out of tamales, but still manages to put on a tamale contest.
• Joey Chestnut’s matzoh ball contest victory mentioned in the Vallejo Times Herald
• Nashua, NH hot dog contest report
  
• “Stretch” eating contest at Missouri University
• Group burger challenge attempt at Mount Airy, NC

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Qualifying for the Big “A” burger eating contest sponsored by Andy’s Cheesesteaks is taking place throughout the month of March. The eaters recording the best 10 times in March for that 48 oz. burger will receive entry into the finals that will take place on April 12 in Greenville, NC. The winner of that contest will receive $1,000. Andy’s Cheesesteaks are located throughout eastern North Carolina.

Contest rules – PDF

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Bodybuilder Isabelle Turell has a picture and brief account of her eating a 48 ounce steak on her blog. She was rewarded with a free meal, a T shirt and a picture on the unnamed restaurant’s wall for finishing the steak in under 20 minutes.

update Isabelle has additional comments on her finishing the steak in a bodybuilding forum thread. She has been banned by the restaurant (which is probably Sam’s Steakhouse in Terre Haute, Indiana) from attempting the challenge again.

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Pat Bertoletti has written a blog entry about his trip to Houston for the matzoh ball eating contest at Kenny & Ziggy’s Deli. He believes he was leading Joey Chestnut until about the five or six minute mark. The report closes with Pat’s thoughts on his current status in the IFOCE:

3 years on the circuit have driven me to reflection. Throught this reflection I have realized that eating is tier based. You start on a natural talent tier and as time, contest experience, and training sets in you have a break through. You then plateau and level off as your body gets used to its new capacity. I have gone through these and am on a plateau. I am trying to get over the hump as we speak. It’s one giant hurtle to overcome. To beat joey and kobey in nathans or krystal is no walk in the park. I don’t know if it’s possible for my body to hold 70 nathans but I am going to damn well try to hit that number on the 4th. One can only play 2nd fiddle for so long before he gets the itch and wants to be the lead. But, there is something to be said when you’re number 2. Motivation comes easier when you know that ever contest you need to up your game and compete on the top level.

The Jewish Daily Forward also has an article about the contest.

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A spaghetti eating contest will be held at the Italian Festival of Mississippi on Saturday in Cleveland, MS. The first prize is $1000 and the entrance fee is $50. Applications are accepted on a first come, first serve basis.

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The Philadelphia City Paper is running a tournament of Philadelphia related items called “Philly Madness”. The Wing Bowl is currently losing (game 30) to The Philadelphia International Cycling Championship 53% – 47%

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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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Russ from the Ace of Spades blog, who sought tips on competitive bacon eating, has a report on the contest and his subsequent trip to the hospital where he was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic. He does not blame his diabetes on the eating contest since bacon has no carbs and believes his high level of cholesterol is temporary.

I get multiple visits from the hospital’s chronic disease coordinator (diabetes is her biggest bag), the nutritionist, and even a doctor. Not the doctor who I saw on Tuesday (she left for a vacation in ….Belize…. on Tuesday night), but another doctor who I’ve seen in the past for a small ganglia cyst. He sits down to talk with me about my health, and proceeds to tell me that not only do I have high blood sugar, but my LDL reading are way high. I told him about the 2008 First Annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest, and he damn near falls out of his chair laughing. To quote him: “You know, I get a lot of stories from patients like “Doc, my readings are just high because I had a big breakfast”, but you’re probably the first patient who’s actually given me a plausible reason for high readings. He decided to re-check my blood in a month to see what it looks like out from under the shadow of bacon.

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Liz K wrote a report for Westword about the cookie eating contest held by the Denver Eating Contest meetup group on Friday. She brought along a friend Micah who would finish third, but did not compete herself despite cookie cravings probably caused by her pregnancy.

Andrew Lane was the runner up and produced a blog entry and gallery about the contest. “Mongo” Marquez was the victor.

Krista also report a report about the event for urbanhonking.com/truefan

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The contest schedule at IFOCE.com announces that this year’s edition of the eating contest held at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC will take place on April 19. The purse is $500 and registration starts “Wednesday, March 10” (which probably means March 12, registration is not currently available). The announcement says there is a possibility that the five traditional rounds could be fused into a single round with five different types of food.

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• SyKoBOZO emails that he won the men’s contest at the Fulton Oysterfest by 181 oysters in 5 minutes
• Boston.com report on the March 1 bacon eating contest at the Atwood Tavern – apparent runner up was female
• The Houston Chronicle reports the matzoh ball eating contest will be made an annual event
• SignOnSanDiego.com has a profile of Jason Tagle, who received a trip to Hawaii after winning a corned beef musubi contest. Tagle competed in the Knott’s Berry Farm PB & J sandwich eating contest and ate 11 sandwiches.
• BeautifulBrian.com has reruns of the Crazy Legs Conti and Kevin Lipsitz shows
• Domenico Alesi calls for more local competitive eating groups
• Kobayashi has a tribute to Kaz Arai, the 2000 Nathan’s champion
• Sonya Thomas praises Juliet Lee and mentions “Stick to Blogging”

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Observer-Reporter has an article about last night’s pierogie eating contest held at the Men’s Culinary Classic in Washington County, PA that was MCed by Crazy Legs Conti. Zach O’Brien won with 18 pierogies in 6 minutes.

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Video from the Travel Channel’s “Battle of the Buffets”, in which Badlands Booker, Cookie Jarvis and the LeFevres competed can be viewed on the Travel Channel’s website

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