Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest

Every Fourth of July since 1916, competitive eater’s with big appetites (and some with big stomachs to match) come to Coney Island, NY to gorge themselves on Nathan’s Famous hot dogs. Though not much is known about the earlier days of this annual event, nowadays it’s sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) and draws top-seeded eaters from around the globe. They come hoping to gain a place in hot dog-eating history by unseating the current champ, Takeru Kobayashi, who’s won the event for five straight years and holds the record of 53 Ã?½ hot dogs. Yes, you read that right. What’s more, this eating feat was accomplished in a mere 12 minutes!

Today, Nathan’s hugely popular dog-downing event goes by the official title of Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest. It’s regarded as the “Super Bowl” of competitive eating, entertaining and fascinating millions of people around the world on America’s most patriotic day. It takes place at Nathan’s Famous on the corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues in Coney Island, Brooklyn at noon.

Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest is open to the public, and (speaking from experience) if you are in New York on the Fourth of July, you should definitely go to see this unforgettable eating spectacle. Barring that, you can also catch it on TV from the comfort of your living room couch. For the second year, ESPN will televise a live, one-hour broadcast of this manic hot dog-chomping event.

If you’ve never experienced a competitive eating contest, you’re in for a unique experience, to say the least. And if you have, then you know that Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest is a not-to-be-missed event.

Twenty of the best competitive eaters in the world will line up to participate in Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot-Dog Eating Contest, considered to be one of the most celebrated sporting events of the year. While you might think calling competitive eating a “sport” is laughable and/or preposterous, the IFOCE maintains that competitive eaters are not just athletes but some of the finest athletic competitors in the entire sports arena.

I’m sure this is open to debate, but what can’t be denied is that competitive eating is not something to be undertaken on a whim by the average Joe. There is absolutely a “don’t try this at home” element to competitive eating. Certainly, anyone can enter the annual pie-eating contest at the fair, but that is a far cry from a true competitive eating event. At any rate, the IFOCE claims that competitive eating is the country’s fastest growing sport, with increasingly more events taking place each year.

There are currently about 300 competitive eaters (called “athletic gurgitators”) on the pro circuit. All of the top-ranked competitive eaters rigorously train for their events, but they all have different training methods as well as different preferences for downing the food. When it comes to eating hot dogs, Takeru Kobayashi, aka “The Tsunami” chews up the competition every year during Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition. He is an amazing eating machine, and fascinating to watch as pushes dog after dog into his mouth, chews, swallows and reaches for another one. While many of the competitors eat their wieners and buns separately, Takeru has perfected an unusual technique of breaking the dogs in half and cramming both halves into his mouth at once (for those who need to know, this was dubbed the “Solomon” technique).

This year’s Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island looks to be as exciting as ever. Takeru main competition is expected to come from the tiny 100-pound Sonya Thomas, aka “The Black Widow,” who came in second last year, and Rich LeFevre, a 135-pound, 60-year-old resident of Nevada.

Like many other people who are intrigued by the bizarre-but-entertaining world of competitive eating, I will be glued to my television set during this dog-gone crazy event. I may even fix myself a couple of hot dogs to eat while I watch. On second thought…