"It is possible to die from eating. But I think to be professional means you don't die." (Takeru Kobayashi)

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

KOBAYASHI: "CHEWING IS FOR PUSSIES!"

Many of you have probably already seen this video of Takeru Kobayashi devouring a single hot dog in what looks like one gulp. It was shot by the crew at Mastercard as part of an online promo right before or after he taped his made-for-TV commercial with Sonya Thomas.

Anyhow, his technique is incredible to watch. He chews only three times, just enough to break the hot dog into four swallowable chunks. I've watched the video at least 20 times (the soundtrack is perfect) and I can't tell if he only swallows at the very end (which he clearly does) or if he's able to get a few chunks down before that. In either case, it's amazing how quickly he's able to finish off this HDB. And remember: This is in SLOW MOTION!


15 Comments:

Blogger Carey said...

OMG. OK, got some new training to do (not at home by myself)
Wow, I was equally impressed with chestnut's swallowing at last year's Nathan's.

10:07 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

awesome!

1:04 PM

 
Blogger Dave S. said...

lol..."not at home by myself"

The IFOCE discourages at-home training. That's why I train at work.

1:06 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

looks like one swallow at the end to me.

i watched the adam's apple area the entire time to come to this conclusion.

2:55 PM

 
Blogger Carey said...

So there I was, eating a donut talking to a co-worker about the video. He says "could you do it with the rest of that donut?"
You ever realize that you can't swallow more than what you can get past your clavicle? I had to bring that ball of jelly donut back up after multiple swallow attempts. Good thing I was at work, huh?

3:39 PM

 
Blogger Dave S. said...

Pussy.

Or as Koby might say, "Yowamiso!"

5:23 PM

 
Blogger Carey said...

try it yourself, Dave. Take half a strawberry filled donut and shove it into your mouth and chew once, then swallow. Get someone ready to do the Heimlich.

3:35 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I never saw him chew hotdogs in 6 yrs he has defended his title. That explains why his speed is so awesome but he is risking the chance of choking. Now Joey is a totally different case. His back and forth motion looks like he is dahvening in a Jewish temple. The insertion of the dogs in Chestnut's mouth amd the way he moves them around, reminds me of a plummer trying to insert or grind a snake pipe into a clogged bathtub or toilet. I give both of them credit , they manage to get the job done.

11:30 AM

 
Blogger Dave S. said...

I watched an interview Koby did right after his '06 Nathan's win and he said he was taking smaller bites so that the food would stack more efficiently in his stomach. He was definitely not using the method you see in this video.

But he still wasn't chewing the pieces. He was pushing the dog into his mouth while doing a rapid chewing motion with his front teeth to break the bites into smaller chunks before gulping them down whole.

11:53 AM

 
Blogger Carey said...

I noticed that in 06 also, Dave. It is like he pushes the food in and his mouth automatically smashes it on it's way down. I wonder if he sawllows or just pushes it down his throat with more food. I also wonder how fast he could get down a smaller number, say 20 dogs doing it the one bite way. Probably a minute?

12:30 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I tried doing it today. I had a hard enough time fitting half of a dry dog in my mouth at that speed. My technique was the victory this evening.

P.S. Being I'm not a legal citizen of Philly, this is not at home training.

10:00 PM

 
Blogger Dave S. said...

Actually, you'll notice in the video the bun is sopping wet. Advantage Kobayashi.

7:02 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I need to open my eyes. I could of sworn it was dry.

8:34 AM

 
Blogger Carey said...

hey, wow I didn't notice that either. I am going to go try it. By the way, Dave, do you know of a link that shows all the qualifying numbers of last year's Nathan's events? I found a video that showed moonachie did 22 in jersey. I am curious about the different areas and where I have the best chance of making it.

9:02 AM

 
Blogger Dave S. said...

Yeah, you'll see the water stream off of it when he first puts it into his mouth.

As for the qualifier link, OJ just posted that exact information the other day on EatFeats (which everyone should be reading daily). Check it here:

http://eatfeats.com/2006-nathans-qualifier-winners.html

9:36 AM

 

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