ClubHooligan.com - Burning it up at both ends

Web posted August 30, 2007

Spots still available for Pel'Meni Smackdown

By KORRY KEEKER
JUNEAU EMPIRE

If you know anything about competitive eating, you know the eaters come in all shapes and sizes.

Japan's Takeru Kobayashi is the most famous example. The 29-year-old weighs about 144 pounds and looks like an average-size college kid but he held the hot-dog eating world record for six years until it was broken this July. He's also consumed 17.7 pounds of cow brains in 15 minutes, and 41 lobster rolls in 10 minutes.

Korean-born Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas weighs just 105 pounds but devoured 7 ¾ pounds of Turducken in 12 minutes on Nov. 26, 2003.

Real estate broker Ed "Cookie" Jarvis is a giant of a man who lives in Long Island, N.Y., and holds more than a dozen world records. He once ate 2.99 pounds of sour pickles in five minutes; 8 pounds, 15 ounces of grapes in 10 minutes; and 33 ½ ears of sweet corn in 12 minutes.

What does this have to do with you?

Eating Contest

What: Pel'Meni Smackdown, a competitive Pel'Meni eating championship sponsored by Hooligan.

When: During "A Night of Legends," 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7.

Where: Marlintini's Lounge.

Where you come in: Hooligan is looking for 16 people who think they're the greatest, so it can determine who's the best.

To register: Leave a message at 523-2268, e-mail pelmenismackdown@gmail.com or visit www.myspace.com/pelmenismackdown. Provide your name, address, telephone number, e-mail, height and weight and your competitive-eating nickname.

Well, if you're a fan of downtown's famous spicy meat dumpling - the Pel'Meni - it just might change the direction of your life.

Who among us can walk on stage, crouch under hot lights in a bar in front of a packed crowd, and eat the most Pel'Meni?

The staff of Hooligan wants to know.

We're looking for 16 entrants (men or women, 21 and older) for the first-ever Pel'Meni Smackdown, a competitive Pel'Meni eating championship.

The showdown will be held during "A Night of Legends," the Hooligan charity gala at 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7, at Marlintini's Lounge in the Mendenhall Valley.

The Pel'meni will be served, cooled, on a plate. But they will be doused, as is custom, with curry, cilantro and the special sauce.

Competitors will be disqualified if they throw up, if they make gross physical contact with their competition, or if they are deemed to engage in otherwise unfair tactics.

The top three will win prizes, but only the champion will win the glory.

To enter, leave us a message at 523-2268, e-mail pelmenismackdown@gmail.com or visit www.myspace.com/pelmenismackdown. Provide your name, address, telephone number, e-mail, height and weight and your competitive-eating nickname.

• Korry Keeker can be reached at 523-2268 or korry.keeker@juneauempire.com.