Eating Your Way Into the Record Books

Could YOU eat 6 pounds of this?

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know that I am mildly obsessed (if an obsession can be mild) with food, particularly anything that uses bacon as an ingredient...remember those bacon brownies and chocolate-covered bacon? All yummy, to be sure, but we're not Joey Chestnut (fortunately). I don't think he ever enjoys food the way you and I do. But then, we don't eat for a living...he does.
You might know his name: he gorged himself past that Japanese guy to win the hot dog eating contest a few years ago and has since become the world's number 1 professional eater. (I hear you asking yourself, "How can I get a gig like that?") It turns out that the list of Chestnut's gastronomical conquests is, well, astronomical!
His gullet-gobbling feats of legendary proportion were brought to my attention recently when I noted that he had won the Best in the /West Nugget Rib Cook-off in sparks, Nevada by downing 8 pounds of ribs in an astonishing 12 minutes. Eight POUNDS! Think of it...truly an American icon. His secret was to slide the meat off the bone, roll it into a ball, and slide it down. perhaps not the most appetizing, but...whatever it takes.
While I thought this was amazing, it stood to reason that he held other records as well...and he does. Just because inquiring minds want to know, grab some Alka-Seltzer and read on.
Chestnut holds the world record for ingesting the most of all of the following in the least amount of time:

1. Steak--72 ounces accompanied by a salad, potato and 3 shrimp in a mere 8 minutes and 52 seconds.

2. Hot dogs--the record at Nathan's Famous contest on (where else?) Coney Island stands at 68 dogs though I'm not sure about the time limit.

3. Hamburgers--103 Krystal burgers in 2 minutes and 41 seconds. No WAY that can be done!

4. Chicken Wings--241 in 30 minutes...that's 8 every minute or one every 7+ seconds for a half hour!

5. Burrito--Chestnut downed a 5-pound, 17-inch burrito in 3 minutes, 10 seconds.

6. Asparagus--He also consumer 6.3 pounds of asparagus in 11.5 minutes. Seriously...asparagus.

And it took five of us several hours to get rid of the bacon explosion.

Pepto on the way!