With the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest mere days away, 'tis the season to fill up the pre-holiday news vacuum with stories about competitive eating. Businessweek profiles "gurgitating juggernaut" Major League Eating, which organizes 90 competitive eating events a year. While it's possible for "the LeBron James of hot dog eating" to net six-figure endorsement deals, other top-ranked eaters hardly make enough to pay rent on a New York City apartment.
Meanwhile competitive eating phenom Tim Janus, aka Eater X, tells Food Republic what it's like when the clock stops at the end of a major eating competition:
All of a sudden you become very aware of how much food you’ve just eaten and you start to resent the hot dogs in your stomach. Meat takes a while to digest, you have that with you for a good solid day, but ones the buns start to digest you can start to move around again.
Janus also demonstrated his eating skills for the Wall Street Journal. Here's a video of him offering some professional tips on this challenging food (separating the meat and bun is key, as is pushing through the strong flavor).
Video: Hot-Dog Champ 'Eater X' Shows How It's Done
· The World-Class Eaters Are Getting Full...Pockets [Businessweek]
· Tim "Eater X" Janus, Food Fighter [Food Republic]
· Hot-Dog Champ 'Eater X' Shows How It's Done [WSJ]
· All Competitive Eating Coverage on Eater [-E-]