Competitive Eating

In an exciting start to the season, the famed Japanese competitive eater, Takeru Kobayashi, has beaten his long time rival, Joey Chestnut, in battle pizza. The two faced off in a 6-minute pizza eating challenge last weekend. It wasn't your ordinary pizza, however, it was sponsor Pizza Hut's 12-inch, one-pound pepperoni filled calzone, known as the P'zone. The extra thick layer of dough proved to be Chestnut's Achilles heel, "it's doughy," he said, "It takes a lot of chewing." Kobayashi consumed 5 3/4 P'zones to narrow out Chestnut, who chowed down 5 1/2 P'zones. The Tokyo native, who is recovering from a painful jaw disorder, came into the competition ready to win: "I wanted to prove that I'm champion. A champion will stand up to any battle."

Chestnut hopes to bounce back and uphold his title of hot dog eating champion. The much hyped competition takes place every year on the 4th of July. To check out a gallery of images of Chestnut and Kobayashi consuming the P'zones, read more

• Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi reports he has an issue with his jaw. — Eat Me Daily
• Learn how to make Chinese five spice powder. — The Kitchn
• Create stadium-worthy seating in the comfort of your home. — Chow
• 1,001 foods to try before you die. — The Epi-Log
• This Super Bowl Sunday, jazz up the guacamole by adding bacon. — Serious Eats

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Takeru Kobayashi, once the unbeatable star of the competitive eating world, failed to break the fruitcake eating record last Friday. This isn't Kobayashi's first fall from grace: He was beat by Joey Chestnut in Nathan's Famous hot dog eating competition and the Krystal Square Off World hamburger eating championship.

To break the record, Koby had to eat more than 4 pounds and 14 ounces of fruitcake in ten minutes. He had never tasted fruitcake before and came just 6 ounces short, consuming 4 pounds and 8 ounces of the dense cake. While competitive eating may seem like an excessive, useless sport, this competition, held in Queens, was a charity event that raised money for the Food Bank of New York City.

Although the majority of you are done with competitive eating, would you think differently of the sport if every competition supported a charity?

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A few months ago we noticed that competitive eating was a rapidly growing "sport": This year, 1.5 million people tuned in to ESPN to watch the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, and there's now a game, Major League Eating, available on the Nintendo Wii. Yet while it's entertainment for many, it comes at a cost for others. Yesterday, Saurab Sabharwal, a 22-year-old engineer at Nokia-Siemens in Gurgaon, India, died during a company-sponsored pastry eating contest held in the office cafeteria. After choking, he ran to the bathroom alone, and was found unconscious an hour later. Colleagues called for an ambulance, which rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. This isn't the first death we've heard of from competitive eating. Last month, a Taiwanese student fell unconscious and died during a steamed bun eating contest.

Does this call for further measures to be taken, so that others don't get hurt? Should a medical expert have been mandated to stand by, just in case? Or should government officials consider placing a ban on eating contests?

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Last week, a student in Taiwan died during a steamed-bun-eating contest. The 23-year-old was participating in his university's annual eating contest, an event that featured 60 students split into 30 teams of two. The student couldn't stop vomiting and fell unconscious during the competition. Although he was rushed to the hospital, it was too late. The cause of the death remains unclear, but some believe he choked to death.

At a time when American major league eating competitions are gaining popularity, I hope the news of this death will force people to wake up. Is a competition involving overeating — in a world where people starve to death — really necessary? What do you think of the news? Are you sick of hearing about eating contests?

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