Having watched quite a bit of Man Vs. Food recently and entering a food competition on my travels last year I thought I’d share with you 6 crazy eating competitions around the world. For those of you who don’t know, eating competitions or challenges normally involve you eating and/or drinking an obscene amount within a certain time limit. The majority of food challenges are in the US but we’ll bring you 5 from the globe in no particular order:
1) Curd Eating Contest – Patna, India
This eating competition dates back a long time but hasn’t been carried out in recent years. However, this year the director of a curd making company decided it was time to continue the tradition. The rules – eat as much curd (yoghurt) as quickly as you can in 15 minutes. The winner, not a shabby effort at all polishing off 2.9kg in that time…
2) Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest – New York, USA
This is a world famous competition – you must have at some point in your life seen on TV people chomping down on hot dogs as if they were peanuts. I always used to see some Japanese guy that looked like a twig polishing everything off – take a bow Takeru Kobayashi who is able to eat 64.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes – absolutely lost for words here! I think there’s a new hot dog champion on the block called Joey Chestnut but Takeru, being a skinny Japanese guy is my food eating hero. More info on the contest here.
3) sSs BBQ Barn’s Monster Beef Shank Challenge – Brisbane, Australia
Ok, I might have just salivated looked at this (and felt a little sick too) – the challenge is to eat an Entree, a 2.4kg Beef Shank, and a desert. If you’re able to chow down on all of this without throwing up on the floor you win a hat, t-shirt, name up on the wall of the restaurant and a pat on the back. Next time I’m in Brissy I’m going to give this one a go.
4) Eagle’s Deli & Restaurant Burger Challenge – Boston, USA
Here’s the deal, Eat a burger consisting of 2.2kg of beef, 20 slices of cheese, and 20 pieces of bacon. Top it off with a big pickle and 2.2kg of fries and there’s your challenge. Oh, and you only have an hour to polish off the lot. Don’t complete it and you get your mug shot put onto the wall of shame. However, I don’t think there’s any shame in not completing this one as NO-ONE (out of the 1500 or so) has ever completed it. You don’t even ‘win’ anything for this challenge, I guess just knowing that you’re the only one to complete it is enoughand the thought that you’d be having Deli babies for a bout a month afterwards!
5) Franks Texan BBQ Grill Steak Challenge – Daasi Taiwan
Frank’s Texan BBQ restaurant (http://bit.ly/ICxj5W) holds an annual event every year where participants have to eat a salad starter, 42Oz Steak with sides (mash, fries, coleslaw, spicy beans), bread roll, a drink and cheesecake as quickly as you can. I went in with my friend from school and it was kind of funny seeing all the Taiwanese people gathering around us expecting us to have a chance of winning seeing as I’m a podgy English man… obviously I didn’t win – it took me an hour, some 44 minutes behind the winner (he won a whole cinema system, 2nd got an iPad, 3rd got a notebook)… was a really good day out and we won a t-shirt 🙂
There you have it some pretty impressive food challenges from around the world. I’m full thinking about it but in saying that am about to go and throw a steak on the barbie…
What I would say is if you ever get a chance to do one go for it – Apart from feeling sick for a good 45 minutes afterwards it is a good laugh and day out. In fact, when speaking to my friends in the UK recently they didn’t comment on the fantastic pictures of Tibet, Taiwan or East Timor that I’d taken but the photos of the massive steak I got my chops on…
Have you ever participated in a food challenge? Let us know your food experiences below, we’d love to hear them.
Happy eating on your travels!
Duff