Oleg Zhornitsky, Takeru Kobayashi and Eric "Badlands" Booker battle it out in the 2002 Coney Island contest. Photograph: Tina Fineberg/AP
It's the fourth of July, and in New York that can only mean one thing for fans of competitive eating, writes the UK's second-fastest eater Andy Kocen.
Today sees the high point of the international eating calendar. Gustatory athletes from around the world will gather at the corner of Surf and Stillwell in New York's Coney Island for the Nathan's Famous hot-dog eating competition. Nathan's Famous is undoubtedly the blue-riband event of the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), attracting tens of thousands of live spectators and being broadcast across the US by ESPN. Independence Day wouldn't be the same without it.
The contest itself will begin at 12.40 ET (17.40 BST) today. However, this isn't just a 12-minute event. A band will begin playing at 10am, with the pre-game show starting at 11am. From my experience (as a spectator in 2004 and 2005) this has been a diverse affair that could really only take place in America. Amos Wengler, the self-proclaimed "bard of Brooklyn" will surely be there to perform a number of "hits", including his (not so) famous song "Hot dog, hot dog" - the crowd will all sing along (it's pretty easy to pick up the words) and a chap in a giant hot-dog suit will gyrate along.
The Gowanus Wildcats Drill Team are likely to be back to perform some dances and drills. The gurgitator (and rapper) Eric "Badlands" Booker, who has released albums with names such as "Hungry and Focused", will play a brief set. And then we come to the main event ...
George Shea, clad in his trademark blazer and boater will whip the crowd up into a frenzy with his characteristic enthusiasm. As an expert in eating lore (most of which he's invented over the years), there's no better guide to take you through your first eating event. He'll talk about the challenges ahead and explain the rules of the game (no "reversals of fortune" etc). When the "bus of champions" arrives and the contestants arrive on stage, the tempo will pick up. He'll introduce the gastronauts individually as they walk to the stage or, in Kobayashi's case, as he's carried there in a sedan chair as the crowd showers him with flowers.
His commentary throughout the event is astounding - who else could refer to competitors as "horsemen of the oesophagus" or Sonya Thomas as "a cross between Billie Jean King, Anna Kournikova and a jackal loose on the Serengeti"? Shea's charisma, enthusiasm and tongue-in-cheek fairground banter are really what elevate the competition from something of a freak-show to a must-see event.
This year, an extra element of excitement has been added - it's possible, for the first time in years, that an American could win the coveted mustard-coloured belt. The pre-eminent US eater of the last couple of years has been Sonya "the black widow" Thomas, a 37-year-old Korean-American who weighs only seven-and-a-half stone, but who is currently ranked second in the world and who holds more records than anyone else, from foods as diverse as hard boiled eggs (65 in 6 minutes 40 seconds), baked beans (8.4lbs in 2 minutes 47 seconds) and Maine lobster (11.3lbs in 12 minutes).
But - and this has been a matter of constant disappointment to the US - the Nathan's Famous contest has been dominated by foreigners. For the last five years, it has been won by the best eater the world has ever seen: Takeru Kobayashi. Despite his small size (he's around 10 stone), he's managed to put away as many as 53 and a half hot dogs and buns in the allotted 12 minutes of competition. I was there in Coney Island that day, two years ago, and the sight was hugely impressive - his focus, his skill. Of the three key attributes of the competitive eater - hand speed, jaw strength and stomach capacity - he has the lot.This year, however, the Americans have a new hope in the shape of the relative newcomer, Joey Chestnut. The IFOCE website states he "roared onto the scene in 2005 with a break-out performance in asparagus". A rookie in last year's hot-dog event, he placed third, with 32 hot dogs - behind Kobayashi (49) and Thomas (37), but an impressive debut nonetheless. This year, he has gone from strength to strength, beating Ms Thomas in a waffle competition and recently setting a new US hot dog record of 50 in 12 minutes. George Shea, the president of the IFOCE and driving force behind the whole eating phenomenon, would dearly like to see a home victory for once. Joey Chestnut might just be able to provide him with one.
So why not wander down to Coney Island a chance to see a true American contest involving the best gurgitators from around the globe, and possibly a ground-breaking home victory? Afterwards, you can amble along the beach (Nathan's Famous hotdog in hand, obviously), past a very bizarre stall called "Shoot the Freak" that involves a paintball gun and some gentlemen in odd-looking costumes, down to the historic Cyclone roller coaster, built in 1927. The evening will undoubtedly involve one of the many firework displays and maybe a trip to one of New York's bars or restaurants, but the highlight will clearly be another piece of eating history.
Getting there: take the D, Q N or F subway lines, which go to Stillwell Avenue, the last stop. This takes about 45 minutes from midtown Manhattan.
In 2005 Andy Kocen became the second-best competitive eater in the UK, eating 17 pork pies in 12 minutes and appearing in the Channel 4 documentary 'The Big Eat'
