Considering there's 12 to 15 dumplings in each container, how many boxes do you think you could handle? Four? Five? Seven?

A noble effort, friend.

But that's nothing compared to what 303-pound, 30-something Atlantan Dale "Mouth of the South" Boone accomplished on the night of Oct. 26, 2002, at the Atlantic Oceana nightclub on Brighton Beach in New York City.

Do the math. Depending on serving size, that's somewhere between 18 and 22 ½ boxes. In just 360 seconds.

"I was on cloud nine," said Boone, who makes his living distributing Hindu language feature films.

So much so that he went out and celebrated with a big dinner.

With Juneau's first Pel'Meni Smackdown just hours away, what tips can the world-record holder offer our town's amateur contenders?

"I promise you there's a lot to competitive eating," Boone said. "We're not guys off the street. There's a lot of training.

Pel'Meni champ Dale Boone

Judging by his girth, Boone has long been a big eater. He emerged on the national competitive eating circuit in the summer of 2002, when he won a regional qualifier for the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.

At the big show that July on Coney Island, he finished back in the pack. But he cracked the sacred 20-hot-dogs-in-12-minutes barrier, a sign of things to come.

Sure enough, a month later he visited Anchorage, Girdwood and Palmer with two other competitive eaters and a film crew from the Discovery Channel show "Gutbusters."

While in Anchorage, Boone consumed a world-record 28 Glacier Brewhouse reindeer sausages in 10 minutes. The record still stands.

"Most of the contests you see are at noon, or 1 or 2 or 3, and when we wake up, we just don't eat anything," Boone said. "Lo and behold, this contest was at 8 in the night, and I had a big ol' breakfast of gravy and biscuits.

"So I was a little worried, and I didn't think I was going to set the record," he said. "But the reindeer sausages were very smooth - not greasy. Nathan's is a very greasy hot dog, a very hard hot dog to eat."

It was during that trip through Alaska that Boone obtained his trademark coonskin cap, a staple of his competitive-eating persona. Brash and confident, Boone claims he's a direct descendant of the legendary explorer Daniel Boone.

When he returned to Atlanta, Boone prepared for the World Pelmeni Eating Championship, which he hoped would be the next big step in his career. There was a $1,500 purse, and every top competitive eater except Japanese hot dog champion Takeru Kobayashi was scheduled to compete.

Russian champion Oleg Zhornitskiy, the adopted son of the Russian restaurants on Brighton Beach, was the favorite. Ukraine was sending its entire competitive eating team. Nathan's runner-up Eric "Badlands" Booker would be there. So would 409-pound Ed "Cookie" Jarvis, the world champion in ice cream and cannoli.

"When it comes to southern foods, like corn on the cob, or fried chicken or frog legs, that's no problem," Boone said. "But when you start getting into the northern foods, things like bratwurst, jalapeños, spicy chili, spicy dumplings. ... Some of those exotic foods, it takes a long time to get used to."

Boone tracked down a Russian restaurant in Atlanta that actually served pelmeni. It wasn't cheap. A dozen dumplings cost a little more than $10, roughly twice as expensive as the same amount of food in Juneau.

Boone tried to convince them he had a shot at setting a world record. The Russians were intrigued enough to offer 100 dumplings for $50, but were still deeply skeptical.

"What really helped me was it was the identical food to what they were serving on Brighton Beach," Boone said. "Understand that the way they cook hamburgers in Atlanta is maybe slightly different than the way they do it in Memphis.

Boone flew to New York a few days before the competition and immediately began studying video of past pelmeni championships.

"When I do any contest, I take a look at video," Boone said. "You have to study. You try to soak in information from everybody else. I saw some things that they were doing wrong, and I picked up on that real quick."

In the first round - a three-minute all-you-can-eat blitz for the 20 competitors - his studies proved astute. The Russians and the Ukrainians ate a dumpling, then sipped water. Boone repeatedly crammed a dozen pelmeni into his mouth, then chewed. After one round, he had eaten 150 and was in the lead.

"Pelmeni is very soft, and I knew that I could get it in pretty quick," Boone said. "But anybody can stuff food in their mouth. That's when they'll find out if they're appropriately trained."

Boone slowed in round two (a two-minute round) and only ate 79.

Entering the final one-minute round, only five eaters were left. Zhornitskiy led with 241 dumplings. Boone was 12 back. When the start-bell rang, he grabbed 12 pelmeni and shoved them in his mouth.

"I was like, 'OK, we're tied,'" Boone said. "I tried to keep it going from there."

He did, long enough to pass and gradually distance himself from the Russian. Booker mounted a furious late charge, but Boone held on for the title: 274 to Booker's 270.

While Boone floated, the Russian seethed and unsuccessfully contested the results.

"I've never seen a person get so mad before," Boone said. "But when you're dealing with major money like you're talking about here, you have to understand that a lot of people get edgy about things."

The next morning, as he waited for his Delta Airlines flight back to Georgia, he happened to see a television.

Daytime host Regis Philbin was holding the morning paper and pointing to a picture of Boone.

"They were actually trying to get in touch with us," Boone said. "Had I known that, I would've turned myself around and got some other flight back home.

"Regis, baby, you could have had me," he said.

Transportation Security Administration screeners allowed Boone to walk through security with his 6-foot pelmeni trophy. On the plane, the stewardesses crowed.

"The flight attendant said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, we have our pelmeni champion that you saw on Regis and Kathy Lee,'" Boone said. "Everyone started cheering."

Back in Georgia, Boone returned to the Atlanta pelmeni restaurant. The curious 300-pound hillbilly was the conquering hero.

"The Russians had seen me on Russian TV," Boone said. "They couldn't believe it. They were shaking my hand. Meeting me in person was like they were meeting the president of the United States."

• Korry Keeker can be reached at korry.keeker@juneauempire.com.