Competitive Eating

There are some things in life that just creep up on me.  When we first arrived in Kalispell 19 years ago I remember seeing a residential underground sprinkler system for the first time.  Where did this come from?  Perhaps it was the kind of neighborhood that I lived in in New York but I’d never seen one before.  All of sudden they were everywhere.  And there were a lot of companies that were installing them.  It’s the same way with eating contests.

Somewhere along the line, eating contests became popular in our culture.  Yes, I know that there have been versions of these contests around for quite some time.  But they didn’t draw national or international interest like they do now.  And they weren’t so plentiful.  Or profitable.  Now they are everywhere.  On TV.  On Youtube.  In the news.  In fact, just a few weeks ago I was checking the ESPN website (one of the few sites I check religiously.  How else would a pastor check a website!!) and one of the headlines was about an eating contest.  Really?  On a site that is devoted to football, basketball, baseball and hockey an eating contest is mentioned?  Wow!  That must make it important!

I guess the proper term for these contests is ‘Competitive Eating’.  Now that sounds official.  Sort of legitimizes it, doesn’t it?  Well, through my research I have found that (get this!) the International Federation of Competitive Eating hosts more than 100 ‘Major League Eating’ events a years.  (Notice the ‘sporting’ language.)  These events consist of eating all kinds of food - from hot dogs to clams; from hamburgers to pumpkin pie; from chicken wings to asparagus.  The winner of these contests can win $10,000.  That’s right. $10,000 to make a pig of yourself!  (And to think that I used to get spanked for that!)  A couple popular competitive eaters who have become household names around the world are Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (Japan) and Joey Chestnut (USA).  These competitors reflect the huge popularity of Competitive Eating in both of these countries. 

Now what amount of food are we talking about here?  Well both Kobayashi & Chestnut have eaten 69 & 68 hot dogs respectively.  Not in a month’s time.  Not in a week’s time.  Not even in a day.  In 10 minutes.  10 minutes!  With the buns!  What is really amazing is that when you look at the picture of Kobayashi and Chestnut, they aren’t fat!  Incredible!  I really don’t know how they do it.  This brings me to a question.  Two of them actually.  One I want to look at tomorrow.  The other I want to look at the day after.

Lord, I thank you for food.  It is a necessity of human existence.  It sustains me.  It nourishes me.  It satisfies me.  It delights me.  It gives me strength and energy to serve You.  It truly is a gift from You to me.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.