NONFICTION
Chomper
Champs
All people eat to live, but some people eat to
compete!
Every year, eating contests take place in
cities around the world. Big crowds show up
to see who can eat the most chicken wings,
hot dogs, pies—and lots more. In Japan and
other countries, eaters can win hundreds of
thousands of dollars in a year. Bring the food,
and these champs will chomp. And they eat
fast, so watch your fingers!
Read What’s There
1 What happens at an eating contest?
Monitor & clarify Chomper champs
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
Gut Busters
Rib eating contest,
New York City
Some chompers eat foods that are a little
unusual. Would you try beef tongues and quail
eggs? How about reindeer sausage or yummy
cow brains? Champion eaters chomp all these
foods. No wonder the winners sometimes go
home with stomachaches!
Eating contests are not just fun and games.
They can be dangerous. The International
Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE)
events are for adults only. And a medical team
is always on hand. These safety rules keep
people safe. That way everyone can have fun
at the event.
Practice the Strategy
MONITOR & CLARIFY
2Explain why medical teams are always on hand at eating
competitions. Remember you can reread, use context
clues, or ask yourself questions to help you understand.
Monitor & clarify Chomper champs
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
Man Bites Dogs!
In the end, the big boys lost to a little guy
from Japan. Takeru Kobayashi ate 53.5
hot dogs in just 12 minutes! That beat the
second-place eater by more than 15 dogs.
Coney Island, New York—July 4, 2004:
The biggest eaters in the world were ready.
Ice-cream-eating champ Cookie Jarvis was
there. So were burrito champ Badlands
Booker and Crazy Legs Conti, the king of
eating green beans. It was time for a famous
hot-dog-eating contest that is held each year!
Read Between the Lines
3 Why might people have been
surprised that Takeru won?
World Eating Records
Food
Amount
Time
Champ
Cheesecake
11 pounds
9 minutes
Sonya Thomas
Chicken Wings
167 wings
32 minutes
Sonya Thomas
57 (17.7 pounds)
15 minutes
Takeru Kobayashi
65 eggs
6 minutes,
40 seconds
Sonya Thomas
12 minutes
Takeru Kobayashi
30 minutes
Takeru Kobayashi
Cow Brains
Hard-Boiled Eggs
53.5 hot dogs
and buns
20 pounds
of rice balls
Hot Dogs
Rice Balls
Monitor & clarify Chomper champs
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
Woman Bites Back!
Her nickname is “The Black Widow.” Why?
Because she’s named after the spider that
munches on male spiders.
Most competitive eaters are men. But one
woman gives the guys a real stomachache.
She’s Sonya Thomas. Like Takeru, she is
smaller than most of her competitors. She
only weighs about 100 pounds. But she can
out-eat men four times her size.
In Sonya’s first year as a chomper champ, she
won thirty thousand dollars in prize money.
By the middle of the year, she held twelve
world eating records! To burn off all that food,
Sonya runs for two hours a day, four days a
week.
Sonya Thomas
winning brat
eating contest
So, anybody want a hot dog now?
Practice the Strategy
MONITOR & CLARIFY
4How are Takeru and Sonya similar chomper
champs? Remember you can reread, look
at the chart, or use context clues to help
you understand.
Monitor & clarify Chomper champs
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing