Overeating as a…Sport?
It is if you’re a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating.
“The International Federation of Competitive Eating, Inc. supervises and regulates eating contests in their various forms throughout the world. The IFOCE helps to ensure that the sport remains safe, while also seeking to achieve objectives consistent with the public interest — namely, creating an environment in which fans may enjoy the display of competitive eating skill.”
Ok, then.
May 31, 2008
Honestly, when so many people are starving in the world, I find this glorified display gluttony completely tasteless (pardon the pun), and utterly disgusting.
May 31, 2008
Indeed.
In fairness, however, the IFOCE also has been known to raise money for various charitable organizations, such as “America’s Second Harvest, The Joey Fund for Cystic Fibrosis, Joan’s Legacy and numerous food banks throughout the United States.”
Nonetheless, I have a hard time “digesting” the notion that competitive eating represents a “sport,” or that the training/competing involved illustrate the skills and dedication of the “athletes.”
May 31, 2008
I also believe that NAACAR, INDY, drag races, tractor pulls and monster truck are incredible wastes of time, technology and resources in the name of so-called sport.
The argumentation by proponents and fans of such are that the rest of the automotive industry benefits from trickle down in the form of better performance and fuel mileage.
Maybe some charities even benefit from some of these “sporting events” as well. However just applying a charity veneer to such useless endeavors seems a cheesy way to gain public acceptance or political correctness.
Just to be devils advocate for a moment, perhaps the overeaters could offer some positive reinforcement and help with eating skills to the populous of hard gainers like me. Food for thought?
May 31, 2008
Regardless of their “charitible” work, I still find this disgusting. Sorry, it’s probably just me, but I can’t “swallow” this one.
May 31, 2008
I checked out the the pic at http://www.joshchang.com/images/hotdog.jpg and DAMN, he and I have the same shredding disease.
Well perhaps we could make it more sensible if the fodder to be chawed down were raw spinich, broccoli or lean turkey in these contests instead of the empty calories of junk/convenience food.
May 31, 2008
Actually, Rob, Takeru Kobayashi – who’s one of the champion hot dog eaters, took up weight lifting to boost his metabolism so he could eat more. He’s pretty shredded: http://www.joshchang.com/images/hotdog.jpg
But this is something he certainly could have achieved on his own, without the hot dogs. In the end, competitive eating – esp. competitive eating of junk/convenience food – isn’t likely to be very healthy, physically, over the long term.
That’s the sort of thing which struck me as rather bizarre about the whole thing, however. Eating contests have – of course – been around for ages as a form of entertainment, like at county fairs and such. But that you would actually have a formal organization, with “stars” and “fans” – and rankings and statistics and what not takes it to a whole new level of strangeness. As a culture, we’re already too obsessed with food, especially bad food…this is just one more manifestation of that. It’s one more degree of separation between food/eating and human health/nutrition…which isn’t psychologically healthy, either.
May 31, 2008
LOL – I don’t think the junk food advertisers that help sponsor such contests would “bite.”
Besides, that much spinach at a time would probably be toxic, thanks to the nitrates and oxalate. Sort of ironic, ain’t it?
June 1, 2008
I nominate celery as the “ultimate competitive eating food.” It’s one thing to jam a hot dog down your throat… ever try to eat celery quickly? Can’t be done!