The Bwog
Mano Eat Mano

In an attempt to recreate the magic of Coney Island's 92-year-old tradition, kosher frat Alpha Epsilon Pi hosted a hot dog eating contest that was a real sausage fest. In fact, that's what they called it: "Sausage Fest." Justin Vlasits filed some photos and an account of what went down.

AEPi's hot dog eating contest began with a hail of smack-talking, much of it from AEPi junior Michael Drabkin. Freshman Kevin Elder, however, took it up a notch with a self-designed T-shirt proclaiming "Joey Chestnut Who?" referring to this year's Nathan's world champion who scarfed down 67 dogs on the way to a new world record.

dogs

aaronAt the last minute, Sausage Fest mastermind Aaron Goldman (right) entered the fray, deciding a showdown with only three contestants would be worse than the stomachache he'd get from several quickly devoured hot dogs plus his recently consumed lunch -- a Spicy Special.

The rules were simple: eat the most hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. Kevin Elder pulled ahead of the pack in the first minute with two dogs using the Tokyo Style (where bun and dog are eaten separately) but soon slowed down from his breakneck pace, allowing Noah Mencow to catch up.
longshot


tokyo style

menkow

action

squeezing

Mencow employed a revolutionary bun-squeezing technique that I have never witnessed in competitive eating (prompting such intellectual commentary as "Are you eating the hot dog or jerking it off?").

Elder's early lead, however, was able to stave off Kobayashi-style regurgitation and Mencow could not finish his final, tying dog. The freshman was declared champion, winning the prize pool of 50 American dollars.

tshirtMany hotdogs remained uneaten and the girls' scheduled watermelon eating competition was cancelled due to lack of interest.

Final Hot Dog and Bun Standings

Kevin Elder: 9

Noah Mencow: 8

Aaron Goldman: 5

Michael Drubkin: 4

Read more: Aepi, Coney Island, Food, Jews

Posted by Joanne Monette: [#1] [reply] [track]
( posted September 16, 2007 at 6:48 PM )
great photos and clever write-up
Posted by nine: [#2] [reply] [track]
( posted September 16, 2007 at 7:30 PM )
hot dogs is not bad. until the early 90s the nathan's contest was won with anywhere from 10 to 15. so 9 is a good showing.

also, the bun squeeze is a traditional hot dog eating contest style.
Posted by hmm: [#3] [reply] [track]
( posted September 16, 2007 at 10:59 PM )
The bun squeeze seems a little weird. I thought the idea is to get the food to swallow-able consistency as fast as possible. That's why the pros dunk the buns in water. Squeezing them seems like it would make the buns denser, increasing chewing time.
Posted by bun eata: [#4] [reply] [track] (in reply to #3)
( posted September 16, 2007 at 11:06 PM )
yes but the squeeze allows one to compact the bun, then you just bite off chunks and swallow

(in my opinion, the dunk in water combined with the squeeze to remove extra water and compact would be ideal as it lubricates the compacted bread for easiest ingestion)
Posted by Noah Mencow: [#5] [reply] [track]
( posted September 16, 2007 at 11:44 PM )
8? 8.75, actually. I was just a few bites away.
Posted by too bad: [#6] [reply] [track] (in reply to #5)
( posted September 17, 2007 at 12:21 AM )
Matt Sanchez wasn't around to demonstrate his meat-swallowing, and bun-squeezing/lubricating techniques.
Posted by BRL: [#7] [reply] [track]
( posted September 17, 2007 at 2:22 PM )
yeah, mencow almost had it
Name:
Email:
Reply to:

Describe this color in one lowercase word.

About Us

Bwog is compiled by the staff of The Blue and White, Columbia University's undergraduate magazine. [ more ]

Contact Us

Please send tips to bwgossip@columbia.edu.

Questions or concerns? Email bweditors@columbia.edu.

Bwog is always looking for new writing talent. Email bwog@columbia.edu.

In Print

Search

Comment Policy

Our Favorite Comments

agreed: [read]
"the business school can go only if they host the session in their exclusive library study rooms...."
impossible: [read]
"i believe the chairs will be somehow attached to each other in the auditorium -- so it will be nearly..."

Bwogroll

Commentariat
The Core Junction
Off Broadway
CollegeOTR
Greater or Smaller
The Mayor's Hotel
Barnard Zines
Peter and Rob Make Lists of Things

Technical

Our headlines are syndicated through Atom.
This site is powered by the Publicate Content Management System, which is available for free.
Our interface icons are from the free Silk set.