Eating for the Gold

They come from all over the world; their shapes and sizes vary, as do their nationality and gender. They do have one thing in common, however, and that is a drive to eat - a lot.

Sonya Thomas can eat a 9-pound hamburger - and she's only 105 pounds.

"I'm always trying to step up my game," says Eric "Badlands" Booker, a 36-year-old donut-and-matzo-ball eating champion, who daylights as a train conductor. He chews 21 pieces of gum at a time while he works in order to strengthen his jaw. "I try to stay hungry and focused," he says. "Hungry and Focused" also happens to be the name of Booker's debut rap album, a homage to the sport of competitive eating. (Sample lyric: "I'll be that top gurgitator extraordinaire/ The one that eats to the beat with a flash and flair/ Eat you out of house and home, no thought or care/ Fridge empty, cupboards bare.")

In the 8 years since Booker started his competitive eating career, the sport has taken off, especially among younger chewers, who have the metabolisms to deal with eating, say, 5 pounds of buffalo wings in one sitting. Chicago-native Patrick Bertoletti, 20, is one of the youngest competitive eaters on the scene (he recently ate 11 corned beef sandwiches in 10 minutes). Joey Chestnut, a 22-year-old from San Jose, CA, put away 18.5 waffles in 10 minutes at a competition last September.

A hefty physique isn't a requirement in this sport. While Mr. Booker weighs in at 420 pounds, his colleague, Sonya Thomas, 37, can put away a 9-pound hamburger in less than a half hour, despite the fact that she's a mere 105 pounds. She's one of the world's top eaters, next to 27-year-old Takeru Kobayashi, 5-time winner of Nathan's Famous annual hotdog-eating contest.

"It's always getting more competitive because there are always new eaters coming in," says Booker. According to George Shea, cofounder of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, there are currently more than 3,000 registered competitive eaters.

"I would expect in the next year or so for the sport to continue to expand exponentially," says Shea. Booker also expects some exponential growth . . . in his pant size, that is. But if that's the price to be paid for a major eating victory, so be it.

Posted on February 27, 2006