Hotdog! Pair gobble way to Coney Island
Eleven contestants gulped, shoveled and wolfed their way through plates upon plates of hot dogs, and two emerged victorious in Saturday’s qualifying competition for the 2016 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot-Dog Eating Contest.
Gathered before a congregation of young and old in the western corner of Memorial City Mall, contest ants squinted, bounced and nodded though 10 minutes of gorging, turning a plate of beautifully-browned buns and brick-red beef franks into puddles and mush.
They dipped buns into large yellow cups of berryflavored limeade and devoured handfuls of dogs at a time in an attempt to beat the clock.
The winners, Adrian Morgan in the men’s division and Nela Zisser, the women’s winner from New Zealand, guzzled their way to the top, punching their ticket to the July 4 event, which is held annually in Coney Island, N.Y. Morgan disposed of 39 hot dogs, while Zisser downed 17.
“I’m kind of full,” said Morgan, who will be competing in Coney Island for the fifth time. “I can fit some more in there. Maybe some ice cream.”
Morgan will be practicing at home with grits and oatmeal between now and then, when he’ll face heavyweights like Joey Chesnut, who owns the world record by eviscerating 69 hot dogs in 2013.
Zisser, a petite model and pre-med student in Auckland, New Zealand, returns to Coney Island for the second time — she came in seventh the last year.
“You kind of have to put yourself in the zone,” said Zisser, emphasizing that’s the best way to handle the culinary gore.
Zisser first started competing after her mom convinced her to enter a pizzaeating contest in which she said she beat “a bunch of big guys.” A video of her feat went viral, and she was competing in the Nathan’s contest a year later.
George Shea, a Nathan’s spokesperson and emcee for the event, said there aren’t too manythings more American than the Nathan’ s contest.
“The contest became associated with the Fourth of July, and it’s held in the nation’s melting pot — Coney Island. It’s good to see people representing their country in a non-stressful and non-violent way,” Shea said. “It’s physical poetry, really.”
Being so close to contestants means Shea has to walk through the “spray zone,” where food residue may shoot or squirt by from any direction, although he said it’s not too badsince as a father, he’s changed babies’ diapers .
“Yep, there’s a lot of detritus upthere,” Shea said with a chuckle. “It’s all a part of the fun, though.”
The Nathan’s International Hot Dog eating contest will be televised on ESPNon July 4.