Palm Beach County firefighters, police officers go bald for charity
Photos: More St. Patrick’s celebrations
The hot dog-eating champ is now also the corned beef-eating champ.
Joey Chestnut took first place in the TooJay’s sponsored corned-beef chow down, held this afternoon at Downtown at the Gardens. The world’s number-one competitive eater devoured 15 sandwiches in 10 minutes, easily besting 15 other contestants and taking home the $5,000 top prize.
Chestnut is best known for his three consecutive victories, starting in 2007, in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, held on the Fourth of July in New York’s Coney Island.
Last year, he beat his own record in the event, eating 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
Food eating “contests” are obscene, and wasteful. What is even more obscene is that most of the local media consider it newsworthy, from an apparent humorous angle. What isn’t funny especially is to consider how many people go without food, and right in our own communities. The amount of food used for these events are considerable, and we need to at least ask ourselves that if a restaurant sponsoring the event, and benefitting from the publicity, could perhaps have part of the winnings donated to a shelter, or have some food donated. That WOULD be newsworthy, good for the restaurant’s business, and help out those in need of a most basic necessity. You don’t have to be a “bleeding heart” to look at this with that idea in mind. Just something to think about.
Oh, seriously. Call your local food bank, you will find they throw out more food than they give out. There is no such thing as hunger in the US.
No such thing as hunger in US? What word do you use to describe it then?
(I agree that Spence’s remarks were over the top)
Want some cheese with your whine?
Almost everything modern humans do is a waste. You just ‘wasted’ electricity by using the Internet to post this.
Just because you can eat something doesn’t mean it is ‘wasted’ when it is used. If someone owns a bunch of corned beef, why is it a waste for them to do whatever the hell they want with it? I guess it is also a waste to feed our pets, because we could be giving that food to starving people instead.
I am waiting for you to start the NO PETS campaign which will feed the hungry.
…and my comment was for Spence.
Spence – Chill. If you don’t like these contests don’t attend, change the channel and make a donation of your own.
Seriously, Spence, I’ve never understood people like you. Do you really lack even the most basic grasp of economics? You’re not going to end world hunger with fifteen sandwiches. Apparently your belief is that nobody had better dare have a cavalier attitude towards anything, lest it turn out that someone’s going without it.
For the record, restaurants are major suppliers of food to charitable organizations, since part of running a restaurant is making food in advance that may or may not be ordered before the end of the day; for that matter, at least in this country there’s more than enough food to go around, as you’d know if you’d ever, say, volunteered. The real trouble problems facing American homeless are mental illness and lack of access to prescription medications, neither of which is being set back by Joey Chestnut.
But that wasn’t the point, was it? You didn’t care one bit for the less fortunate five minutes before reading this article, and you won’t five minutes from now. You just wanted to call someone “disgusting” on the internet. Well, your mission has been accomplished. Hope you’re real proud.
“Apparently your belief is that nobody had better dare have a cavalier attitude towards anything, lest it turn out that someone’s going without it.”
Really? That’s what he meant? You mean, he didn’t mean that wasting hundreds of hot dogs, for instance, on 10 people gorging themselves isn’t a waste? And I doubt it was just 15 sandwiches, he bested 15 other people which means there had to be a considerable amount of food there. You don’t think that, maybe, 60 or 70 HUGE (have you ever been to toojay’s? their sandwiches are enormous) sandwiches could have gone to any better use than this contest?
Don’t compare eating contests to other things one could “have a cavalier attitude” towards. Name one other “sport” in which its participants waste this much.
“You’re not going to end world hunger with fifteen sandwiches.”
If everyone thought that exact same thing, no one would get fed. That’s why barely half of teens vote, they think they wont make a difference. Millions of people not voting does make a difference. Be the change you want to see, it’s easier than being a jaded, uncaring person like you.
“Name one other “sport” in which its participants waste this much.”
NASCAR
How about a charity eating contest, at a shelter or soup kitchen. That’s nice right?
Disgusting.
You have to have shit for a life…to think that that’s entertaining.
If by disgusting you mean hilarious.
inny, you need to get a grip, too. You’re just one of those folks that criticizes everything… I personally think it’s hysterical watching people eat 68 hotdogs or 15 giant sandwiches, because in a way it truly is. Sounds like you’re the one with a shitty, dull life.
‘Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow’
joey chestnut is a living god. USA! USA! USA!
People, there is plenty of food on Earth to feed everyone, the problem with hunger doesn’t have anything to do with lack of food. It has to do with people believing that the free market is somehow the best means of determining who gets food. Therefore folks with little or no money cannot get any food, while wealthier folks can get 4 times as much food as they need and toss it in the garbage if it spoils before they eat it.
This event is obscene and gross, but not because it keeps food from the poor in America. There are food stamps that provide people with 10 times as much money as they need to feed themselves if they would stick to purchasing rice, beans, and other low cost foods. There are food pantries and food kitchens everywhere.
I dont think that not having eating contests would solve world hunger, but it is a gross display of waste. Those sandwiches are enormous. I’ve been to toojay’s and their service is atrocious, so this is just another reason I probably won’t go there again.
Way to go, Spence.
It seems to me that this kind of eating contest is a huge booster for all the Islamic fundamentalist groups that find the trappings of the West offensive. I find it offensive.