It’s been a Coney Island fixture and a fan favourite for over a hundred years. I could be talking about the Nathan’s Famous Frankfurter, but I’m specifically referring to Nathan’s July 4 Hot Dog Eating Contest, which is set to go tomorrow at noon, regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic and what complying with lock down rules entails…
Miki Sudo (left) and Joey Chestnut: Long-standing champs
of the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Championship.
A little history
The Nathan’s website tells us that the world’s oldest and most famous competitive eating event started as a bet between four friends on July 4, 1916, at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs on Coney Island – the same year Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker opened his stand at the corner of Surf and Stillwell. It’s still the anchor location of Nathan’s, and the usual site of the company-sponsored annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest (NFHDEC).
Hot Dogs were 5 cents apiece and there was no shortage of takers. Handwerker always credited his Frankfurter’s popularity to his wife’s secret Spice recipe, which has been approximated but never quite matched by Dog makers around the world. Indeed, Handwerker is credited with ‘inventing’ the Hot Dog as we know it today.
The contest itself
From its humble beginnings as an ad hoc bet between friends, NFHDEC has run continuously for the past 113 years, regardless of World Wars, hurricanes and other momentous happenings, and is now a beloved American national tradition, telecast to the world by ESPN.
It’s important to note that the contest is also hailed as the first competitive eating contest, a noteworthy fact in itself, since Eating is now recognised as a ‘sport’, and there are official Professional Competitive Eating Associations worldwide. The top competitors make pretty good livings at it.
Cases in point…
Joey Chestnut, out of California (see photo, top of page), is the current undefeated king of the July 4 Hot Dog Eating Contest. He is one of those pro Eaters who makes the rounds of the ‘money’ eating contests year round like pro golfers make the round of their various pro tours and championships. According to the Nathan’s Hall of Fame, Chestnut has won the Nathan’s contest every year since 2007 except for one. He also owns the Nathan’s Contest record of 74 Dogs consumed in under 10 minutes, in 2018.
Likewise, 98-lb. / 45 kg Miki Sdo has won the Women’s side of the competition (first run in 2011) every year since 2014. Her nicknames? ‘The Black Widow’ and Leader of an unofficial Competitive Eating cohort called ‘The Four Horsemen of the Esophagus’.
This year’s NFHDEC will be like no other before
Thanks to (or due to; whichever you prefer) the COVID-19 crisis, this year’s NFHDEC will take place, but under a heavy blanket of pandemic social distancing and food handling rules than being open to the public for fans, the action will take place at ‘a private indoor location nearby’, according to a CBS/ESPN news release.
“There’s a little bit of a bonus ’cause we’re gonna be eating in air conditioning and they’re less eaters, so they’re making less hot dogs so they might taste better,” Chestnut told ESPN. “There’s a good chance that we might have better conditions for a world record and I may be pushing for it.”
We’ll keep an eye on the action and update you with a special post Sunday on the results of tomorrow’s 104th. edition of the NFHDEC.
~ Maggie J.