Fries the limit
Do popular munching contests give food for thought, or are they a big waist?
Rigorous training, determination, a desire to win at almost any cost and a very stretchy waistband – this is the weird world of competitive eating, which Americans even call a sport.
It’s where people eat – or mostly just swallow, barely-chewed – vast quantities of food, often supersized, within a given time in front of a crowd.
But now the world of super-eaters could finally be fit to burst as scientists have worked out the limits of what the human body can physically scoff.
And it’s a lot. With intense training, they concluded a human male could eat as much as a bear, at about 800g a minute in a short burst.
Doesn’t really sound that much you might think? Think again.
After studying the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York, they predict the most food a person is capable of consuming in 10 minutes is 84 hot dogs (in buns of course).
And we’re not far away already – the current record is held by American Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who managed 75.
For many competitive eaters though, there simply are no limits.
“It is mind over stomach matter,” Crazy Legs Conti, 46, a competitive eater from Massachusetts, US, says. “It is about knowing and accepting what it is to feel that full and nauseous.”
You coul d be forgiven for thinking “only in America”, but while the facestuffing competitions are huge in the States – and the portions even bigger – it is also growing in the UK.
So surely a lot of waistlines will be too? Well, not if they look anything like the UK’s top female competitive eater, Leah Shutkever from Redditch, Worcs.
From glancing at her Instagram you’d think the size 10, 30-yearold was a fitness influencer, not someone who has broken records by eating 5lb burritos, speed-eating a 750g jar of Nutella, and 1,000 Jaffa Cakes.
And yet she has an unbelievably trim figure and insists she’s as fit as a fiddle. “Fitness was my lifestyle 10 years before I started doing food challenges so I have a good understanding of nutrition, exercise and most importantly, my body,” she says. “I’m a very disciplined person so if I have to fast in the run-up to a challenge, I will do that.”
The competitive eater went viral after she was filmed eating a 5lb Mexican feast at the Mission Burrito restaurant in Birmingham in March 2018 and now she has a huge following online.
She also holds several Guinness World Record titles for stuffing her face, including the triple world record for the fastest time to eat a burrito – 35.26 seconds; the fastest time to drink one litre of gravy in 1 minute 49 seconds; the fastest time to eat three pickled eggs in 7.80 seconds and eating 10 jam doughnuts in three minutes.
Leah even managed to beat
Britain’s strongest man, Eddie “The Beast” Hall, in finishing 2kgs of chicken wings covered in stuffing, pigs in blankets, and cheese sauce.
Leah got into competitive eating as a bit of sibling-rivalry
with her older brother. “In 2013 he failed a food challenge at a local restaurant 10 times in 10 weeks and so I called him out on it and he challenged me to take it on. I enjoy the competitive aspect of it, it’s challenging and it’s different.” Leah thinks she could eat 30 to 50 hotdogs in 10 minutes, But science says we could be at the peak of our appetites. James Smoliga, a professor of physiology at High Point University in North Carolina, noticed a pattern emerging in competition results from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Winners ate about one hot dog a minute in the 1970s and numbers gradually increased as cash prizes got bigger and competitions went international.
But recently, the amounts competitors consumed slowed again, suggesting they’re reaching their gastric limits.
Leah, isn’t convinced it is over and believes it’s only just getting started, adding: “It’s not just about the eating but
also the atmosphere, the entertainment and the shared love for great food
There are hundreds of competent around the world every year, incl Wigan’s pie eating contest.
There is even a world body that sees professional eating contests Major League Eating – and ranks of the biggest names, including Ge Esper from Massachusetts, who eaten 50 4oz pork sandwiches minutes, Miki Sudo from Connecut
who has tackled 16.5 pints of vanilla icecream in six minutes, and Max Suzuki from Tokyo who once ate 10kg of ramen.
They are the kinds of people UK-based Kyle Gibson hopes one day to join.
Some of the 21-year-old’s accolades include consuming a 14,000 calorie burger, the biggest Nutella doughnut in England at 14-inches and a 19lb Yorkshire pudding wrap, packed with 4lb of roast potatoes, stuffing, roast chicken, cranberry sauce and gravy. Kyle, from
Durham, is also slim and in good physical health – he works out for four hours a day at the moment on an exercise bike.
Kyle says competitive eating takes practice and to do this he eats one giant meal per day. His favourite is porridge, and he can wolf down an 11lb bowl.
“I never feel sick, I always feel bloated and sluggish after a challenge but never sick. Your body gets used to it.”
Even Kyle wasn’t sure he could stomach 84 hotdogs in 10 minutes but says he’s done 12 in three minutes.
So will that be the limit for good? Only time and a lot of eating will tell...
■ Leah and Kyle can be found on their Instagram pages, www.instagram.com/ shutkeverofficial and www.instagram. com/kyle_v_food.