All-consuming passion: they eat for sport, chewing and chomping while judges watch, audiences howl and innocent bystanders duck

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 25, 2002 | by Jennifer Harper

America got its first real taste of competitive eating when Fox aired The Glutton Bowl, a two-hour special that featured 40 contestants competing for $25,000 "in a challenge to see how much or how fast they can consume." In March, the Discovery Channel will explore mega-eating phenomena in a documentary called Gut Busters. Suddenly, fat is phat! Come November, the New York-based International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) plans a competition that will feature an entire Thanksgiving dinner.

"It's not about gluttony," says George Shea, IFOCE chairman. "It's about competitive eating. This is a sport. We train, we compete, we have strategies and disciplines. And it's global-- America, Russia, Thailand, Canada, England, Scotland, Germany," Shea said. "This is a sport of the every man, because every man can understand it. A good eater is a good athlete."

An IFOCE mandate specifies safety and age regulations, careful record-keeping and uniform procedures for those moments when one man will consume two-and-a-half pounds of mince pie in 30 seconds. That feat was accomplished by England's Peter Dowsewell two years ago, and it still stands as a world record.

The IFOCE, which offers official T-shirts in sizes up to XXXXL emblazoned with the legend "Nothing in Moderation," also finds sponsors for sanctioned tournaments year-round. Participants can keep track of events in a newsletter called The Gurgitator. Competitors share training methods, such as learning to stretch their stomachs by drinking a gallon of water at one sitting.

A short history at the group's Website (www.ifoce.com) maintains that competitive eating has been around since prehistoric times and, while American eaters dominated the early 20th century, the Japanese now set "record after record before stunned crowds."

Indeed, the all-time record for hot-dog eating is held by one Takeru Kobayashi, who ate 50 weenies "with buns" last year in 12 minutes. The competition, held every year since 1916 at Nathan's Hot Dogs on Coney Island, N.Y., is what Shea calls "the litmus test of patriotism for eaters of all nations."

The group is not above reproach from those who are grossed out, offended or simply don't get the finer points of the craft. "Small-minded people might think this is a mockery of the real starvation that's out there," Shea says. "What they don't know is how much fund raising we do, how many charity events for Meals on Wheels and other groups that we do."

The sport is not limited to large men. Top "eaters" include hamburger champ Moses Lerman, who is 5 foot 8, weighs 185 pounds and can drink a gallon of water in two minutes.

Women also compete, including "Lorain-a-saurus" Lipsitz, who is married to world pickle-eating champ Kevin Lipsitz. The pair met at a singles event, married and decided to double-team it on the competitive circuit.

JENNIFER HARPER WRITES FOR Insight's SISTER DAILY, THE WASHINGTON TIMES.