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Hamburger contest a hit

Posted on Sep 23, 2008 in News

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Saturday, Sept. 20, was an eventful day at Legion Field. The weather was perfect, the crowd was eager, the energy was electrifying and, around 1 p.m., people began to gather around a rather large trailer in Blazer Village. This was a day to be remembered, as many were about to witness the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Regional Qualifier.

In this contest, a person must consume as many Krystal hamburgers as their stomach can hold in eight minutes time. The contestants can use the aid of water or a similar beverage to soften the hamburgers if they so chose. Registration was open to anyone who dared to sign up, and contestants were drawn randomly prior to the qualifier.
Several Krystal Square Off hopefuls touted their ability to eat almost 75 Krystal hamburgers, while others were more humble, estimating that they could eat 35.

Not only did randomly selected amateurs compete against competitive eating professionals, but on Saturday, Birmingham played host to the three-time Krystal Square Off winner, Takeru Kobayashi of Japan. The thirty-year-old needed to qualify at the event in Birmingham for his chance to compete at the finals in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Sept. 28.

Eight minutes seemed like a lifetime as each contestant tried to stuff hamburgers down as fast as they could.
Kobayashi, being the professional that he is, stayed completely cool as he tore through tray after tray of burgers. The presence of a three-time world champ didn’t seem to unnerve any of the other contestants as they all tried their best to eat Krystal after Krystal. As the contest came to a close, the trays were counted, and the winner was finally announced.

Kobayashi won first place by eating an incredible 89 Krystals. Amazingly, he achieved this feat while feeling a bit under the weather.

“I was feeling sick before it started, and now I’m still feeling sick,” he said.

Second place went to a newcomer, nineteen-year-old Steven Ramirez, with a smaller, yet still impressive, number of 24 Krystals. The energetic Paul Barlow took third with a count of 20 Krystals.

What makes a world champion in competitive eating? At first thought, it may seem that the larger the person, the better; however, this is not always the case, particularly for Kobayashi.

“A lot of the new breed of eaters are leaner, fitter guys,” said Brian Cooley of Wicked Public Relations. [Consider the] Delta Fat Theory where smaller, leaner guys have more capacity in their stomachs than bigger guys.”

This is quite true with Kobayashi, because his personal best is 97 Krystals in eight minutes.

Kobayashi has a training regimen for just this type of event.

“Two months before, I began eating more and more and then I also just practiced eating hamburgers,” he said.

The practice paid off, because Kobayashi’s next stop is, indeed, Chattanooga, Tenn., where he will face off against reigning world champion and world record holder, Joey Chestnut. The winner will receive a $50,000 cash purse and hold the title of World Hamburger Eating Champion.

Email: jsims1@uab.edu