Chomping Champ Chestnut Swallows Victory

Look out stomach! There he goes again! Nathan’s two-time and defending champion hot-dog eater, Joey Chestnut, ate 45 slices of pizza in 10 minutes to win the Famous Famiglia World Pizza Eating Championship. That’s the equivalent of 5 ½ 16” diameter cheese pies! Godzilla eating his way through Tokyo had a snack compared to Chestnut gorging on "cheesy triangles" in formerly sleazy Times Square! It’s his first pizza pie contest victory. Joey’s chestnuts may soon be in the fire though from new competition. With the fast-rising cost of food in New York City, many city residents may soon be looking to enter food contests just for the “free eats!”

U.S. Hot Dog Hero Nips Nipponese

Nathan’s annual eating contest took place in Coney. Revised rules for 2008 cut the time limit from 12 minutes down to its original 10 minutes. As time expired, the two favorites had each swallowed 59 hotdogs and buns! In the first-ever tie breaker, last year’s weiner, Californian Joey Chestnut defeated six-time weiner, Japanese Takeru Kobayashi by downing five additional dogs first. That’s a weining total of 64 hotdogs! Eating contestants really do have guts! At Nathan’s current price of $2.95 per hotdog, Mr. Chestnuts’ recent meal would have cost $188.80 if ordered at Nathan's counter. Maybe that explains the appeal of eating in the contest as opposed to ordering at the counter.

Nathan’s Nixes Two Minutes Of Gluttony

The annual July 4th hot dog eating contest held at Nathan’s in Coney Island will be doing its' part to reduce global warming. They’ve agreed to reduce the contest length from 12 minutes down to 10. This change is being made at the insistence of George Shea of Major League Eating which manages the event. He claims that he’s found notes from 1917 stating that the frankfurter contest lasted only 10 minutes. An article from 1986 corroborated that time limit. Shea believes he’s preserving history, not changing it by instituting this new rule. Whether last year’s winner, Joey Chestnut can best his record of eating 60 hot dogs in just 10 minutes this year remains to be seen. Takero Kobayashi from Japan has previously won the event on six occasions. This year, time and time difference will decide who eats the most hot dogs and buns. Hot gases will be rising from the contestants’ buns this coming week. Be prepared for a heat wave, Brooklyn! Look away from your television set, Al Gore!