# Should this be pitted - "Competitive Eating"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 24, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632 "2005-11-24T23:55:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/21 "2005-11-27T14:15:21Z")
The best woman in the field, Sonya Thomas, known as The Black Widow won a contest wednesday by eating a 10lb turkey in 12 minutes. This summer she also won the bratwurst eating contest in Sheboygan, Wis by eating…35 brats in 10 minutes. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/23/turkey.eating.reut/](http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/23/turkey.eating.reut/) ---
**Author:** ![PinkShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/76d3ee/32.png) [@PinkShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/22 "2005-11-27T23:29:57Z")
How does the Black Widow and Kobiyashi put away these huge amounts of food? They are small Asian people. I heard the Black Widow is only about 100 pounds. Why don’t the fatter guys, like 300 pounds+ put away the most food? ---
**Author:** ![Dishfunctional](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/35a633/32.png) [@Dishfunctional](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dishfunctional)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/23 "2005-11-28T00:04:04Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Rather, it just strikes me as insensitive to have eating contests when others have little. Hence my use of the word “crass” in the OP. I don’t see how my sensitivity to world hunger is going to feed one Ethiopian. I just don’t get the connection. If everyone’s sensitivity caused them to ignore competitive eating out of existence, then what…? This makes about as much sense as when Dear Old Mom used to tell me to clean my plate at dinner because there were starving children in China. I once asked her why, then, don’t we send these damned lima beans to China? _ **THWAP!** _ ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/24 "2005-11-28T01:39:17Z")
> [@The Big Cheese](#): > > The best woman in the field, Sonya Thomas, known as The Black Widow won a contest wednesday by eating a 10lb turkey in 12 minutes. This summer she also won the bratwurst eating contest in Sheboygan, Wis by eating…35 brats in 10 minutes. > > [http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/23/turkey.eating.reut/](http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/23/turkey.eating.reut/) Of all people, you should know that she scarfed down [25 grilled cheese sammitches in 10 minutes](http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/14/a.php) earlier this year. Where’s the Brioschi smiley? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/25 "2005-11-29T12:15:39Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > As an American, I will say that, even though I understand that a slightly-built Japanese fellow is apparently the King of the “sport,” I think of this…pursuit (it ain’t no sport) as an American thing. Within that context, I think it is a bit too illustrative of things that aren’t particularly good about American culture. Over-indulgence as a thing to celebrate, eating as a quantity not quality thing, placing competitiveness ahead of all else - even if you look like a fool doing it. Actually, the ‘sport’ seems to be pretty popular in Japan as well. For a time, some of the TV networks were holding regular weekly tournaments. In the American contests, are most of the competitors big? In the Japanese ones, I’ve yet to see a single participant who was of more than average build, and most were pretty slim (none looked to be in very good shape, though). They had some American competitors join in once, including a very slim woman in her 50’s from Texas and a younger guy who looked like a linebacker. He went head-to-head with a 17-year-old Japanese girl who probably weighed a third what he did, and she just ate his lunch (literally). The only reason he made it to the next round was because she choked just before the end (again, literally). Still, they’re great for dieting. I watch one while I’m eating dinner and before the first contest is over I’ve lost my appetite. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/26 "2005-11-29T13:33:58Z")
> [@PinkShoes](#): > > How does the Black Widow and Kobiyashi put away these huge amounts of food? They are small Asian people. I heard the Black Widow is only about 100 pounds. Why don’t the fatter guys, like 300 pounds+ put away the most food? I’m not sure. It seems that MOST competitive eaters are bigger, but the top ones are smaller. Check out some weights and profiles [here](http://www.ifoce.com/eaters.php). Some of the top eaters are 420 pounder Eric “Badlands” Booker and 409 pounder Cookie Jarvis. Of course, it has more to do with the size of your stomach than how much fat you carry on your body. Still, I’d expect bigger people to have bigger stomachs, just because they’re bigger. If it catches on and people start training for it, like Kobayashi, I suspect the top competitors in the future will be people who are naturally large, but who have done the proper stomach training like Kobayashi. I like the “sport”. To me, competitive eating is one of those natural events like a 100 yard dash. Just as I suspect 2 bored caveman were sitting around one day going, “Let’s see who can get to that rock first,” I also figure that competitive eating just came from a natural place. . .“I bet I can eat (drink) more of that than you can.” Shit, before anyone had heard of competitive eating, we were in 5th grade betting a kid a quarter that he couldn’t drink 4 milks in a minute. How long has the “saltine” challenge been around. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/27 "2005-11-29T17:20:22Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Of all people, you should know that she scarfed down [25 grilled cheese sammitches in 10 minutes](http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/14/a.php) earlier this year. Where’s the Brioschi smiley? That I can understand, the 35 brats I can’t. I don’t know how anyone can eat more than 3 of those. Can you imagine taking her out on a date? I’ll order a burger and fries and a soda, and for the lady…35 burgers, a diet coke and an order of fries please. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/28 "2005-11-29T18:25:07Z")
I’m disgusted by it for purely aesthetic reasons. I was taught to use a knife and fork and not to talk with your mouth full. Seeing someone with grease and gravy all over their face slobbering and drooling half-chewed bits down their shirt while they shovel in the food with both hands is just _gross_. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/29 "2005-11-29T19:32:33Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I was taught to use a knife and fork and not to talk with your mouth full. Seeing someone with grease and gravy all over their face slobbering and drooling half-chewed bits down their shirt while they shovel in the food with both hands is just _gross_. Well, la-di-da, your majesty. Since I’m guessing you’re also too fancy to eat standing on a big plastic tarp, don’t expect to be invited over to dinner anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/30 "2005-11-29T20:14:35Z")
Hey, I’ll get down and suck down barbecue with the best of them, but I won’t be a pig about it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632/31 "2005-11-29T20:20:59Z")
Anyone dumb enough to engage in competitive eating deserves whatever gastrointestinal injuries they suffer as a result. Evolution, baby! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-be-pitted-competitive-eating/332632.md?page=1)