The Jackie Chan and Terje Haakonsen posters are coming down – I have a new hero.
He may not look like much at all of 5-foot-4 and 131 pounds soaking wet, but damn, can 23 year old Takeru Kobayashi ever eat hot dogs!
At the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island, the world series of eating competitions, Kobayashi slugged down 50 hot dogs and buns in just 12 minutes – that’s not a typo, that’s F-I-F-T-Y freakin’ dogs! That’s one hot dog and one bun every 14.4 seconds, or, imagine if you will, a single hot dog that’s over 20 feet long.
Now world records get broken all the time – a tenth of a second here, a metre there, but Kobayashi destroyed any existing frame of reference. Prior to July 4, 2001, a day that will surely live in infamy, the world record was a measly 25 dogs and one bite.
Most of the other competitors stopped eating to watch history being made, while the crowd got louder and louder with every hot dog Kobayashi consumed. A few troopers kept scarfing, but next to Kobayashi they were the ones that looked 131 pounds.
Towards the end of this jaw-dropping spectacle, Kobayashi went into a kind trance, twitching and stomping his feet, fighting nausea maybe, or maybe trying to jiggle eight pounds of bread and pork products through his digestive system. The concentration on his face was intense.
Kobayashi is part of a recent movement whereby a core of Japanese eaters are going through the books and claiming the records for the Land of the Rising Sun. First Godzilla, now this.
Richard Shea, the publicist for the International Federation of Competitive Eating, had this to say about Kobayashi’s feat:
"The entire city is just paralyzed with the news. It’s just nuts. I have my alibi on the John F. Kennedy assassination and I know where I was for the moon landing – but I have no explanation for what happened today."
Whether anyone other than Kobayashi himself will be able to top this feat is the big question, one that could be answered next year – the first 50 will take about that long to digest.
Restaurants raise $108K for AIDS Charities
It took a while to collect the receipts, but at last organizers have announced that the eighth annual "Dining Out For Life" fund-raiser, held in March, collected more than $108,000 for Lower Mainland AIDS charities.
More than 150 restaurants took part, including 12 Whistler restaurants, donating 25 per cent of all food revenues on March 15 to A Loving Spoonful and Friends For Life.
A Loving Spoonful delivers free, nutritious meals to men and women living with AIDS. Friends for Life operates The Diamond Centre For Living, a wellness centre that treats over a thousand people with HIV, AIDS and cancer.
The Whistler restaurants that took part are Araxi, Portobello, La Rúa, Las Margaritas, Monk’s Grill, Black’s Original Ristorante, Quattro, Garibaldi Lift Co., Kypriaki Norte, Durlacher Hof, The Bearfoot Wine Bar and Christine’s on Blackcomb.
Organic brew
Pacific Western Brewing of Prince George is celebrating the fourth anniversary of NatureLand, Canada’s first certified organic lager, with new packaging that features four scenes of SuperNatural B.C., illustrated by Steve Mostrenko.
Natureland is certified by the Organic Crop Improvement Association, the largest organic certification association in North America, as well as by the Cariboo Organic Producers Association. The malted barley from Saskatchewan and the Bavarian hops are certified to ensure they contain no pesticides, herbicides, drying agents, chemical seed treatments or conventional nitrate or phosphate fertilizers.
Natureland is available in more than 100 B.C. liquor stores and is a feature beer at participating Keg restaurants.
Canadians drinking more
They call us "hosers" for a reason. In 1999-2000 Canadians sucked back a record $13 billion in beer, wine and spirits, a 5.2 per cent increase over the previous fiscal year.
According to Statistics Canada, it was the third increase in as many years, with every person over 15 consuming an average of 103.6 litres of alcoholic beverages. The year before we were a bunch of lightweights, consuming just 102.6 litres per person.
Beer accounted for 52.6 per cent of sales, spirits were 25.9 per cent and wine was 22.5 per cent.
Imported beers increased their market share by 25 per cent, but still accounted for just 8.9 per cent of all beer sales.
Wine sales rose 5.5 per cent by volume, almost evenly split between red and white – red wine sales have been increasing steadily in recent years. Quebec alone accounted for 41 per cent of all red wine sales, and Ontario drinkers consumed another 32.6 per cent. The bulk of red wine sold, some 70 per cent, is imported.
Tastes varied from place to place.
In addition to sales of red wine it seems that Quebecers are also fond of gin. Yukoners boasted the highest per capita sales of beer and liqueurs. Drinkers in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut preferred vodka, while Manitoba has the highest per capita sale of Whisky. Newfoundlanders like their rum.
Canadians drinking less, more or less
Statistics Canada compiles all kinds of data; some of it makes you wonder it those people don’t have too much time on their hands. A recent report that British Columbians are drinking less heavily (than sailors, than nuns?) is a case in point.
According to Stats Can, the proportion of people aged 12 and over in the province, who never imbibe five or more drinks on one occasion, has increased from 52.7 per cent in 1994-95 to 55.1 per cent in 1998-99. Both men and women are drinking less. In 1994-95, 41 per cent of men and 65 per cent of women had never had more than four drinks at a time. By 1998-99, these proportions had increased to 44 per cent and 67 per cent.
Or, it may be that people are using larger glasses now days.
