On Saturday my husband and I went to the Nisei Festival in Little Tokyo. We saw our first ever competitive eating contest. It was very exciting once it got underway. The contestants had to eat as many gyoza (Japanese dumplings) in 10 minutes as possible. This event was even sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). Those are the folks that do the famous hot dog eating contest at Nathan’s hot dogs every year. Now I want a hot dog for lunch.
Anyway, here is a slightly blurry picture of the event:
The contestant in the pointed hat down at the bottom tied for 4th place, and I think he was an amateur. He ate 64 gyoza. The winner, who is an international competitor, ate 189!! That’s almost 19 per minute! That’s just insane. One of the competitors who wasn’t a professional ended up puking, aka a “reversal of fortune.” It was fun. We bought frozen gyoza at the market afterward.
