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Competitive eaters face off with pizza in Chicago

June 20, 2004

CHICAGO—Competitive eaters like oysters because they go down easy. Hot dogs are good, too, because you can soak the buns in water for quicker gobbling.

But this weekend's world pizza-eating championship at Bacci Pizzeria in Downers Grove, Ill., presents a stiff challenge: chewy crust and cheese.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the 15-minute, all-you-can-eat contest has even the most experienced gobblers concerned. So far, all the competitors know about what they'll eat is that the 24-inch pies will be topped with cheese only.

Henderson, Nev.'s, Carlene Lefevre, ranked 9th in the world, is concerned about the pizza's "rough edges. You're really gonna have to chew it."

"It should be interesting, depending on how thick the crust is and how much it weighs," said Ed "Cookie" Jarvis of Long Island, N.Y. Jarvis, who weighs 409 pounds, has eaten an entire pizza in three minutes and holds numerous eating records.

He will be joined by Virginia's Sonya "the Black Widow" Thomas who, at 105 pounds, is the world's number-2 ranked eater and also holds several records.

Takeru Kobayashi, the world's top-ranked eater (consumer of 50.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes) will not compete in the contest.

The International Federation of Competitive Eating will sanction the event, as it does some 100 competitions each year. Top prize is $2,500.