What to make of eating 68 hotdogs in 10 minutes

I watched this video with amazement. The winner of this year’s Fourth of July hotdog eating contest ate 68 hotdogs (and buns) in 10 minutes.

Notice, then, the post-contest interview, where winner Joey Chestnut smiles and talks in spurts. But I kept wondering whether he was about to vomit.  After all, he just ate 68 hotdogs (and 68 buns) in 10 minutes. That’s about 16,500 calories of meat and 5,300 calories in hotdog buns.  If Joey retained all that food in his stomach (which I doubt, but maybe I’m wrong), he gained about seven pounds in ten minutes (since every 3,000 intake is the equivalent to a pound in weight gain). If you can set aside your concerns about the contestants’ health, you can appreciate that what happens in these contests is no doubt remarkable.  Athleticism?  Why not?  That’s what it seems like in this post-contest interview:

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Avatar of Mike Pulcinella
    Mike Pulcinella

    I won't watch that video. I find eating contests disgusting and embarrassing. I just imagine what some starving person would make of this; the arrogance of those who have extra, making a sport of waste.

    My mother used to say that wasting food is a sin. If there is such a thing as sin, this is definitely it.

    By the way, the body can not process that much food at once. I doubt that it translated into 7 pounds of weight gain. If he doesn't vomit it up most of it will be excreted undigested.

  2. Avatar of Angie
    Angie

    IF there is a such thing as sin? Um, yeah there is and you're right this is sin. It's called gluttony.

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