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Sunday, July 06, 2008
WILL CHESTNUT GET ROASTED IN LOCAL CHOWDOWN?
World's eating champ says he won't have an edge in contest here
July 07, 2008
HE can scoff down 47 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes, 60 hotdogs (buns included) in 10 minutes, and 241 chicken wings in 30 minutes.
Top dog: Joey Chestnut holds a tray of 64 hotdogs after defeating Japan's Takeru Kobayashi at Nathan's annual hotdog-eating contest in New York.picture: Reuters
But when it comes to local fare such as curry puffs, fishballs and satay, competitive eating champion Joey 'The Jaws' Chestnut is a little unsure of how well his stomach will handle it.
'Sometimes, food with strong flavours makes you nauseous, especially when you're eating a lot as quickly as possible,' he said.
'You feel like throwing up - but you're trying to keep it down.'
That is why the 24-year-old American, who is the reigning champion and world record holder at the annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition on Coney Island, New York, will have to do a lot of taste-testing before he arrives in Singapore later this month.
He will be taking part in the finale of a local eating competition, held in conjunction with the Singapore Food Festival, at Robertson Walk on 27Jul.
Singaporean contestants will go up against Chestnut and Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi, who won the hotdog eating competition six times in a row up to last year.
Even though he is a professional competitive eater, Chestnut said that the locals have an edge over him on their home turf.
FAMILIAR
'Competitive eaters are familiar with the food they eat and know their bodies very well. It will be a challenge for me to acquire and be familiar with the taste of the food,' he said.
'I'm lucky that my parents cooked a lot of different types of food when I was growing up, although I'll definitely be facing some flavours I've never had before.'
In the American competition, no condiments are used as simpler flavours are easier to digest.
And that is why, like any professional athlete, Chestnut plans on doing some specialised training in the US before the Singapore competition.
'I asked my friends to find the right foods for me for practice,' he said.
'Over in America, we have a lot of different restaurants, so we do manage to find things like satay - but I'm not sure which is the authentic one, so I'm just trying manytypes.
'But of course, I need to practise even more, to get my body to accept the flavour.'
For Chestnut, preparing for a competition is an exercise in mental strength.
He said: 'Get into a rhythm. Training your body to eat fast is hard, and requires a lot of mental work.
'I fast for two or three days before I go for a practice contest - this lets your body be completely empty so that you know what its actual capacity is.'
To stave off excess fat from the food he consumes, Chestnut does a lot of running - at least 6.5km twice a week.
He said: 'Cardio-vascular exercise burns the calories you take in and it also helps my body get used to ingesting large amounts of food.'
As a result of the exercise, he is only just 'slightly overweight', Chestnut said. He is 1.85m tall and weighs 98kg.
Chestnut is keen to dispel the notion that competitive eating is a display of the ugly side of people.
'Some people do eat in a disgusting manner, but we're not always like this every time, gorging on food.
'I'm very well mannered and I eat very healthily outside of the competition. I have to take care of my body and treat it well for the day of the actual contest.'
Most importantly, Chestnut feels that competitive eating is not about physical size.
He said: 'Some larger people might actually be unhealthy, and so they run out of breath during the competition, which makes it difficult to maintain a fast pace or push themselves.
'Contrary to what we think, some of the best competitive eaters are actually very small in size.'
Kelvin Chan, newsroom intern
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