Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 40, is the reigning champion of the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, having won all but one of the competitions every year since 2007.
In the 2021 contest, he ate 76 hot dogs and buns in just 10 minutes, one of 55 competitive eating world records he holds.
Last year, he fell short of his own record but still put away an impressive 63 sausages. He blamed his performance on stormy weather.
But after signing an endorsement deal with Impossible Foods - a plant-based meat company - Chestnut will miss out on the annual New York event.
It’s because Nathan’s Famous prohibits eaters from endorsing competitor hot dog brands, the contest’s governing body Major League Eating (MLE) said.
This is such an unforced error. It just makes Nathan’s seem petty and defensive. I argue that having someone who is sponsored by a meat alternative brand, eat 60 of your hot dogs, is a slam dunk. “Even this guy, who is paid to eat other hot dogs, chooses to eat a shit load of ours. Our shit must be the bomb.”
Voice over: “The only thing impossible about our dogs, is to put them down” set over a slow mo video of Chestnut vacuuming up hot dogs.
Just the mere existence of meat-alternatives is absolutely terrifying to the industry. Someone getting that name out there is something they can’t permit even a little, lest the consumer learns of it.
The scariest thing to them is not the tiny fraction of vegans who stop buying their product, it’s the massive percentage of non-vegans who might consume just a little less meat.