You may think it’s fun to watch speed eaters cobble down hotdogs this weekend, but the “sport” of competitive eating has some considerable health risks. While the percent of the speed eating population is not large enough to warrant a scientific study, several former speed eaters are dealing with obesity, clogged arteries, and other gastrointestinal problems.

One competitive eater even found that after a while, his stomach would not register being “full” when he ate normally. This condition, called peristalsis, means that the stomach is not contracting. Despite the health risks, however, many speed eaters look back on …read more

This post isn’t really about Asian food, I know, though you can browse through the Records section at the International Federation of Competitive Eating website to see the record holders for things like Chinese dumplings, rice balls, and SPAM (which many Asians love).
Two of the top competitive eaters in the world, though, are Asian — JapaneseTakeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi who won the most recent Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs contest, and Korean-American Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas, whose most recent record was 60 Virginia Ham Biscuits in 8 minutes. Nice piece of trivia worthy of addition to this blog.
To …read more