11. Insatiable - Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream by Jason Fagone

BOOK REVIEW: Insatiable – Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream by Jason Fagone

Some of us would have read eye-catching articles on Americans chowing down up to 100 hotdogs in a minute in magazines or newspapers at some part of our life. We would have just absorbed this news like a sponge and then wringed it out as something irrelevant after a time. However, did you know that this form of competitive eating is regarded so reverently in America that there is even a retirement period as well as cases of suicide from being unable to break the record for number of burgers eaten in a sitting? This all-encompassing book on competitive eating portrays the harsh reality of this activity, very much regarded as a form of sporting event, in America.

Meet the Four Horsemen of the Oesophagus: Bill ‘El Wingador’ Simmons, David ‘Coondog’ O’Karma, Eric ‘Badlands’ Booker, Timothy ‘Eater X’ Janus – just a few of the stars of one of America’s fastest growing sports: competitive eating. In a country in which 1/3 of the population is clinically obese, competitive eating has made the leap from county fairs and paper napkins to stadium arenas. Over the past 2 years, more than 1.4 million households have tuned in to Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Contest on ESPN.

Beginning with a trip to Japan in search of the elusive (and surprisingly slimline) champion Takeru Kobayashi, and ending up at the sport’s annual grand finale in Coney Island, the author spends a year with the stars of the scene, watching as they eat their way into (or out of) oblivion, and finding out just what compels a ‘gurgitator’ to force down 552 oysters in 10 minutes.

Wickedly funny and devastatingly insightful, this book uses this weirdest of sports as a lens through which to examine the dark side of the American Dream – the never-ending quest for wealth, celebrity, possessions and food. And along the way the author uncovers the wonderfully human stories at the heart of this seemingly unnourished corner of American culture. Bigger, better, richer, fatter, Insatiable unlocks a world we all need to face up to.

So, what are you all waiting for? Dig in voraciously into this appetizing read. Now, if you will pardon me my 1901 hotdog is gleaming in front of me with all the fixings of extra gherkin and mayonnaise.