The Fourth of July conjures up thoughts of fireworks, family and cookouts in most parts of America. But just hours before all of this gets serious, many Americans will turn their attention to an odd spectacle that has become another holiday tradition: the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Each year on Independence Day, thousands of spectators, braving the heat and the effects of inexplicable fervor, flock to an intersection in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood to watch an elite squad of competitive eaters eat up as many hot dogs as they can in 10 minutes.
The definition of humanly possible has meaning for most of the meat-eating world; For most participants, it means something completely different. That’s especially true for defending champions Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo, who came back to defend their titles and potentially expand the notion of human possibility.
Mr. Chestnut holds the men’s world record in 2021 with 76 hot dogs and buns eaten in 10 minutes, while Ms. Sudo holds the women’s world record with 48.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Both were overwhelming betting favorites to win.
The women’s competition started first and Ms. Sudo prevailed, eating 39.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes, six more than her closest competitor, Mayoi Ebihara.
Mr. Chestnut, also known as “Jaws”, won the men’s competition for the 15th time last year by eating 63 hot dogs. Ms. Sudo won for the eighth time by eating 40 hot dogs.
The Nathan’s competition, divided into separate men’s and women’s competitions, has been held every year since 1916. Its modern incarnation is fueled by a heavy dose of puns and patriotism from George Shea, who co-hosts the event with his brother, Rich Shea.
Over the years, the Sheas have gently coerced mayors, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, Michael R. Bloomberg, and Bill de Blasio, into officiating weigh-in ceremonies abounding in one-line groans. (After making such a moan in 2012, Mr. Bloomberg remarked aloud, “Who wrote that? [expletive]?)
They’ve expanded the Coney Island event into a statewide competitive food extravaganza hosted by the Major League Eating, a group that bills itself as the “government body of all stomach-centric sports.” The competition will be streamed live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.
For those of you who might be curious, scientists (scientists!) have determined that the human body is capable of eating at most 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes, according to a study published in 2020, based on a time span of 39 years based on the data from the competition.
According to this paper, the world’s best human eaters could rival a grizzly bear in terms of the amount of food eaten per unit time.
Bears can eat about eight hot dogs per minute and Mr. Chestnut can eat about 7.5 hot dogs per minute. But the bears usually play for about six minutes, while Mr. Chestnut can catch hot dogs for a solid 10 minutes at a time.
“Most top eaters use a pretty similar technique: we separate the meat from the bun,” Mr Chestnut said in an online video detailing his championship technique. “If you have to eat it quickly, you have to dip the bun in the water.”
He said he began training for the competition in late April each year, with a series of practice competitions followed by periods of fasting. He also eats outside on hot days.
He’s managed to eat more than 80 hot dogs in 10 minutes five times during training, he said, but has never been able to replicate that feat in competition.
“A lot of it is psychological and mental,” he said. “Your body is telling you that you are full.”
Mr. Chestnut is also what might be called a multiple separator in other contexts. In addition to his skills as a hot dog eater, he holds world records for quickly eating Big Macs (32 in 38 minutes), tacos (82 in eight minutes), and funnel cakes (5 pounds of them in 10 minutes).