Update: Joey Chestnut has reclaimed the title in a tie-breaking eat-off. Rumor has it, he's not spending the rest of the afternoon riding the Cyclone roller coaster.
Today is the day for that most blessed and sacred of all Fourth of July customs: the IFOCE/Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition at New York's Coney Island. The grand weiner fest will be broadcast at noon EDT on ESPN.
American Joey Chestnut won the Mustard Belt in 2007 after besting Japan's Takeru Kobayashi by eating 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes last year.
Think that sounds like a lot of dogs? You have no idea just how many hot dogs the US consumes. To find out how many dogs we'll bite today, read more.
The US consumes 10 times as many hot dogs each year as it does slices of pie — maybe the saying "American as apple pie" needs an update? We eat almost 7 billion dogs in the Summer months — that's 818 consumed every second. Today alone the US will consume 150 million hot dogs.
Which city grubs on the most weiners? The top four include:
Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC. Appropriately enough, the first US hot dog stand opened on Coney Island in 1871. Tune in to see who'll win the most patriotic display of gluttony! How many dogs could you eat? Pass the mustard!
on Yahoo! |
I could not imagine lol.
my record was four chili dogs, but that combined with the alcohol and the events of the day eventually made me puke Exorcist style. literally. it was one of those that sneaks up on you! I was so weak for two days that I couldn't even clean it up. It was horrible. I will never forget it, and therefore stay pretty clear of hot dogs. If i do eat them, one's my limit.
I hope my cautionary vomit story reaches someone today, and prevents them from any misery later.