Nothing like sitting down to a little snack of 72 tamales consumed in 12 minutes or less.
That’s the number of tamales the contestants at the sixth annual World Tamale Eating Championship will have to eat to usurp — and that just seems like the right word in this context — the world record set in 2007 by Tim “Eater X” Janus.
The championship snarf-off happens during the Western Days Festival in Old Town Lewisville, 5-10 p.m., Sept. 24, and 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sept. 25. The pig-out starts at 1:15 p.m., Sept. 25.
Major League Eating — yes, there is such a thing — sanctions the championship. This year’s field of eating “athletes” includes three of the Top 10 eaters, as ranked by MLE, in the world.
Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, No. 4, and Erik "The Red" Denmark, No. 7, join No. 5 Janus at the table … or trough. Thomas, in particular, seems like formidable competition. She owns the world records for chowing down on Vienna sausages, cheesecake, chicken nuggets, boiled eggs, tacos, and quesadillas.
Tony "Bam Bam" Martinez of Dallas, Shawn "The Pulvereiser" Heiser of Richardson, and “Nasty" Nathan Biller of Wichita Falls, who happens to be ranked No. 18 by MLE, round out the local talent registered for the event.
There’s got to be some serious bulimia here somewhere.
Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. He’s good for two, maybe three, tamales before the “go box” comes out.
