First, the
rules: the
hotdogs must be consumed in the
presence of an
official judge, and must be consumed in any style along with
buns, with the contestant's choice of
condiments; eating the buns and hotdogs separately is also allowed, and is referred to as "Japanesing". For some reason I can't quite figure out, they must be consumed within the space of 12
minutes. Any hotdog or bun in the contestant's
mouth when time is called counts towards the total as long as it is then swallowed. The contest is held on the
Fourth of July every year at
Coney Island at
Nathan's
Famous Hotdog
Stand since 1916 (you'd figure they'd have better things to do, what with
World War I and all, but what the heck...). Judges are always present, to prevent
cheating;
women are allowed to compete (a winner in the mid-50's was a
German woman named
Gerta Hasselhoff), but the world records are kept separately.
The current all-time record I believe is held by Hirofumi Nakajima of Japan, who doubles in his native country as a noodle-eating champion. Winners and record-holders include:
- ? - Peter Washburn, 18.5 hotdogs in 12 minutes
- 1991 - Francis "Large" Dellarosa, 21.5 hotdogs in 12 minutes
- 1995 - Edward Krachie, of Maspeth, Queens, 22.25 hotdogs
- 1996, 1997, 1998 - Hirofumi Nakajima, 24.5 hotdogs
- 1999 - Steven Keiner, ?
- 2000 - Kazutoyo Arai, 25.2 hotdogs
The prize is the
coveted Mustard Yellow International Belt, lined with jewels; it currently is held on display at the
Imperial Palace in
Kyoto.