A champ leaves fans hungry for more
Kobayashi walks away with victory, another record
His admirers consider him the Tiger Woods of competitive eating, an eating machine so voracious that only a 1,000-pound bear has bested him in head-to-head competition. But yesterday, world hot dog eating champion Takeru ``Tsunami" Kobayashi faced an unprecedented challenge: four young and hungry Massachusetts residents who would win $10,000 if -- altogether -- they could eat more lobster rolls than the champ in 10 minutes.
In the end, the World Lobster Roll Eating Challenge turned out to be no challenge for the slender Kobayashi, who calmly stuffed the 5 -inch-long rolls into his mouth as his rivals began to stare glassy-eyed or leaned against the food table for support. Kobayashi ate 41 rolls to 25 for the local team led by 19-year-old Molly Zakarian , and he walked away with both the money and another world eating record.
``Ladies and gentlemen, thanks to Takeru Kobayashi, there are no more lobsters left in the Atlantic," joked MC Richard Shea of the International Federation of Competitive Eating to the overflow crowd at Avalon on Lansdowne Street, which greeted Kobiyashi like a rock star. Long after the last roll had been eaten, he knelt at the edge of the stage, signing autographs beneath the dance club's giant disco ball.
The contest, sponsored by a casino game website, gave Boston its first glimpse into the strange and increasingly high-stakes world of competitive eating, where the stars have such nicknames as Crazy Legs and Tsunami, and they are decidedly not fat. Kobayashi, who stands 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 161 pounds, has six-pack abs thanks to a rigorous weight-training program that he employs to allow him to eat more food.
Some analysts say Kobayashi, a native of Nagano, Japan, has a physiological edge because his stomach stretches more than most, but Crazy Legs Conti , a Massachusetts native and the 11th-ranked competitive eater in the world, said the real edge is Kobayashi's Zen-like ability to stay calm and focused.
``He is tapping into something that the greats like Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods know: the game is not on the field. It's in your mind," said Conti.
By comparison, the challengers -- Gerardo Mulling , Daniel Sandberg , Jay Gilby , and Zakarian -- had no professional eating experience.
``We're against a celebrity," said Zakarian before the contest, adding, ``You always have a chance."
But, from the moment the contest started amid cheers, pounding music, and flashing strobe lights, Kobayashi began to pull away, eating steadily, while the others paused to look at their food or tore it into smaller bites. Sandberg later admitted he was suffering the ``meat sweats" -- a sudden revulsion feared by competitive eaters -- while Mulling, a strapping 215-pound man, couldn't even finish.
Kobayashi did not eat the 60 rolls that some had predicted, but the champion said that he had only eaten his first lobster roll on Friday and was still deciding whether it was best to stuff them in his mouth whole or dunk them in water first. ``I really want to improve my record," he said through an interpreter.
Sandberg said he, too, would eat lobster roll in the future, but not yesterday. ``I'm pretty full," he said.
Scott Allen can be reached at allen@globe.com. 