Here at the heart of summer in middle America, hot dogs reign supreme (or at least as co-rulers with hamburgers and brats). Their tubular geometry facilitates ingestion with minimal obstacles as attested by Joey Chestnut—winner again of the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on this year’s Independence day. His new record of 75 consumed in 10 minutes probably approaches the theoretical maximum, according to a statistical study by a veterinarian and human biomechanics researcher.
The author, Professor James Smoliga from High Point University in North Carolina, worked out 83 as the number of hot dogs being humanly possible to eat in such a short time. My hunch is that Chestnut and his fellow competitors will be working-out all year to demolish this ‘Smoliga’ bar.
For all the scientific details see the July 15 Royal Society publication of Modelling the maximal active consumption rate and its plasticity in humans—perspectives from hot dog eating competitions.
“These contests provide each individual with an unlimited, ready-to-consume food supply. Thus, participants can focus all of their efforts on maximizing consumption, rather than investing energy into foraging, chasing prey or competing with others for access to a dwindling supply.”
Dr. James Smoliga speaking on the advantages of human hot-dog eaters at a staged event such as the 2020 Nathans Famous event (check out the wacky hats worn by the spectators—gotta love that mustard!)
Even a glutton for statistics gets choked up by the feast of analysis provided by Smoliga, but I did find the comparison between species very tasty, especially the bit about grizzly bears being on par with humans for active consumption rate (ACR). However, having owned a number of big dogs and seen them demolish entire platters of barbecued meats left within reach, I was not surprised that, per Smoliga’s calculations, a grey wolf can eat meaty foods at more than double the rate of a person.
I suggest putting Smoliga’s speculations to the test at next year’s event: Pit the winner against a wolf and a grizzly for the interspecies champion of hot dog eating.