I Think I Bit Off More Than I Can Chew...

Sometimes I run across story material that is too odd or funny or downright crazed than I can easily write about.   I want to go deeper and find out more!  Yes, I am a nosy bitch!  How did you guess?

Such is today's effort on over eating for $$$.  It was brought to my attention by publicity for the annual Coney Island Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.  Ring a distant bell?  Yeah, me, too.

One of the articles detailed perennial champion, Joey Chestnut with his wins.  In 2018 he ate 74 hotdogs in 10 minutes.  These were normal-sized dogs and buns.  His technique?  Eat the dog out of the bun, dip the bun in water, shove it at your face and open mouth.  The esophagus can't take  a ton of "dry" descending on it.  Chief rival Takeru Kobayashi breaks the dogs into twos and shoves them down his maw.

Hot dog eating contests are said to have begun in 1916 when Nathan's first opened.  A couple of PR guys concocted a contest - the person who could eat the most Nathan's hot dogs was the most "American."

As America has become diversified, so have eating contests and monetary prizes .  Some items and prizes when they were mentioned

Poutine (Canadian favorite; French Fries with cheese curds and brown gravy) 20 pounds in 10 minutes.  $6,000

Raw jalapenos 265 for $1,500

Shrimp 10 lbs.  $1,500

Peeps (Easter candy) 200 in five minutes

Gyoza dumplings  359 in 10 min.

bacon 1 lb. in 10 minutes

Joey Chestnut also vies for championships with deep-fried asparagus, Key lime pie, lobster and cheesecake as the items.

Surely this forced mass eating can't be good for one and it isn't.  Some if the bad things that can happen:  Liver damage what with massive hits of carbs and fat; so much so that (figuratively) the liver throws up it's hands and says, "I can't take it anymore.  I quit."  Too much of a load also can cause hypoxia or less oxygen to the brain and brain damage ensues.  Most obviously, of course, is choking.

Here are a few contestants and their sad fates.  You could say they died trying...  Cockroaches, hot dogs - a bun got lodged in a throat, paramedics couldn't get it out: plotz.  Ukrainian dumplings led to a heart attack.  Rice balls, pancakes for charity which is truly unfortunate, and KFC wings.  

I've only seen one contest and it was at the Long Island Oyster Bay annual fair.  Contestants are given metal pie pans with a specific number of ready-to-eat oysters and they slurp them down.  This is not a pretty sight.  As for myself, I can say that in high school, I could down a can of beer in 10 seconds.  The guys were impressed.  My secret?  Lock your throat open and pour straight down your gullet.

In any case regarding all of this foolish recklessness - DO NOT TRY ANY OF THESE AT HOME.