Chatting with competitive eating champ Joey Chestnut

Meatballs mean serious business for eating champ Joey Chestnut.

Illustration: Wesley Gatbonton

How did you get your start in competitive eating?

It’s weird … something I never really imagined doing. My little brother was a fan of it and he knew I was the biggest eater in the family. He signed me up for my first contest, and after the first one I knew my body was made for it.

And what was that first contest?

It was lobster [in 2005]. He signed me up for the lobster-eating contest. The hardest part for me is just eating in front of people. But once I got used to it, I definitely started winning.

You don’t get nervous anymore?

I always get nervous. I’m a nervous wreck before every competition.

You seem pretty calm up there.

I’m not necessarily calm but I’m definitely focused. I know what I have to do.

A recent Wall Street Journal article calculated that you’ve earned around $17,000 per hour competed. Were you aware of that?

That kills me when you put the numbers together (laughs). For the actual time I’m eating I’m doing pretty well. It’s pretty ridiculous.

Are you a full-time competitive eater now or are you still working construction?

I [still] work in construction management, but I do really well in eating. I’ve been very lucky to make a lot in competitive eating.

You’ve been in competitive eating for more than five years. What kind of effect has that had on you?

If anything, I think I’m really actually healthier. I’ve figured out my body. I get my body into a cycle where I’ll fast for several days before a contest, then I do a practice contest, then I fast again, do the actual contest, and then recover. I’ve learned to respect my body and learned to make sure my body can recover.

It’s been a lot of trial and error to figure out how to make my body feel good even though I’m abusing it. There are no books written on it, so it has been difficult. I can see how a lot of people would become unhealthy, though I feel pretty good.

What’s the immediate impact after a competition?

Oh my god. It depends what the food is, but, like, the meatballs—they’ll taste good but it’s a lot of meat. I’m expecting to be exhausted right after the contest. I’m going to be thirsty, and I’ll want to be sure to drink lots of warm water to help the food digest. If I eat nine or 10 pounds of meatballs I should be fine. I can easily digest 17 or 18 pounds of food. It’s just figuring out your body and feeling comfortable making my body do what I know it can do.

Do you eat normally or are you always training?

I eat pretty much like a normal person. Sometimes I get carried away if it’s a food I really like. This is my first contest in four weeks, so I’m just starting to get my body back in a cycle where I’m eating big meals and fasting and making sure that my body is used to ingesting a ridiculous amount of food. I love it.

When you’re not training what do you like to eat?

The same stuff as everybody. If I go to a baseball game I’m going to have a bratwurst or maybe a hot dog. I love ribs and chicken wings—whatever my mom is cooking. I love pastas and a good steak.

What’s your proudest accomplishment in competitive eating?

Being able to win the hot dog title four years in a row and my record of 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. When I started competitive eating all the other Americans [said] nobody can beat Kobayashi. I thought, really? Someone has to be able to beat him. So that was the goal from the start for me. My goal was to beat him, and I was amazed that I was able to do it in two years.

What’s the toughest competition you’ve participated in?

I did a jalapeño eating contest one time and it was awful. It was really awful. I was paying for that one for days. I had never really abused my body with jalapeños before and so my body didn’t know how to handle it. I also went to Singapore and did a chicken satay eating contest. It was chicken in a curry sauce, and it was spicy. That was something my body wasn’t aware of either.

Are there any foods you won’t or can’t eat?

I won’t eat grits. I did a grit-eating contest and I won’t do that ever again. I won’t even touch grits. It’s like eating sand! That’s the only thing that comes to mind when I think of eating grits. They should be illegal.

How are meatballs different from the hot dogs you’re famous for scarfing down?

They’re a little different since they’re in sauce already. There’s no bread so it’s just pure meat. They’re gourmet meatballs, too, so there’s a lot more flavor to these. The sauce itself tastes great and there a lot of different kinds of flavors going on. At first it’ll be really easy but then the flavor becomes an obstacle and it becomes more difficult.

How do you feel about having to use utensils in this competition?

It doesn’t bother me. I try to be neat. Over the years I’ve gotten a little bit messier because of the competition—it forces us to push a little bit harder. I like the utensils because it forces everybody to keep it clean.

What’s your strategy for defending your title in this competition?

I just have to get into a rhythm in that first minute. Once I get into a rhythm, I can control my breathing, control my hands, control how much food I’m putting in. I want to get all the muscles in my jaws and esophagus and around my stomach all to work together to get the food in. If I get into that rhythm in the first minute it’ll all be good.

You ate 50 meatballs last year. What’s your guess on this year’s mark?

It’s hard to predict since sometimes they change the size of the meatballs. I think they calculated that I ate a little more than eight pounds last year, so if I can get nine pounds I’ll be happy. It should be a fun contest since it’s going to be in front of a huge audience.

When you’re done with the competition, where do you like to eat in Vegas?

Ooh, I’m not going to be eating much (laughs). I’m going to be going to the mall and getting one of those three-foot big drinks … a daiquiri with Everclear. The alcohol will loosen up my muscles.

So for the 1st press junket of my fledgling food journalism career, I end up in Laughlin. Truth be told I didn’t know what to expect but I went in with an open mind and it

was a completely enjoyable trip!

I took the trip down with City Life’s Al Mancini and though I’d been down a couple of times on business he’d never been. Little did we know what we were getting into.

Doesn't She Look Like She's Having Fun?

Our night kicked off on Thursday with the Laughlin Chef’s Food Fest put on by the Laughlin Chamber of Commerce. We were the guests of R&R Partners, who were representing the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, along with a handful of other Las Vegas media guests.

Beef Filet with Corn Pudding

Simply put, the Food Fest was perfectly enjoyable. As with any food festival – even one with a moderate number of booths – the food varied from outstanding to mediocre with more hits than misses. Particularly memorable efforts included the fresh pulled mozzarella from the Avi Resort and Casino, the mushroom-stuffed ravioli with porcini cream sauce and the jumbo prong on a cappellini cake from

Jumbo Prawn Scampi on Cappellini Cake and Crab-Stuffed Lobster

Mangia and the filet of beef with corn pudding form the Hickory Pit. I actually went up and had each of the dishes twice I enjoyed them so much.

After the formal event, the evening quickly devolved into a fun mess and I’ve got nothing but the utmost regard for the Regency Casino where Happy Hour is all day but the casino inexplicably closes at 9:30. I highly suggest dropping by and grabbing a shot of Jager with Butch during their NEVER ENDING HAPPY HOUR! Could there be a happier place on earth? I think not!

The long evening led to a majority of our party not meeting for the breakfast buffet at the Aquarius but most everybody made the subsequent river cruise. Did you know that Don Laughlin actually paid for the bridge between Laughlin and Bullhead City? Yeah, neither did I until the river cruise.

Lunch was at the Laughlin Ranch Country Club in Bullhead City and then we moved onward to Oatman, AZ – quite possibly the most surreal place I’ve been to in sometime. It’s because it is a city overrun by burros!

Not a llama!

Apparently, this was a pretty prosperous mining town until World War II when it was practically shutdown. What was left behind though were burros – and lots of them! So many so now that they own the streets and

Sarsaparilla!

practically attack you. It would be kind of creepy if they weren’t so cute!

The burros weren’t the only attraction in town because there was food to be had! At the Olive Oatman Restaurant & Saloon you can get both sarsaparilla and more importantly fry bread. This rendition of fry bread was different than that I was used to and was more reminiscent of a deeply-fried funnel cake than the thinner version I’ve had previously at a phenomenal Native American restaurant in Denver called Tocabe, but I digress… It was still tasty though not exactly what I expected and between the sarsaparilla and the honey-accompanied, cinnamon-coated fry bread I had my sugar high for the rest of the day.

Sweet fry bread

The evening was rounded out with a very nice meal from Mangia at the Colorado Belle Casino where once again I treated myself to another helping of portabella mushroom ravioli in porcini cream sauce. Strangely enough, the most remarkable part of this dish was the sauteed spinach and that’s not a slight to the pasta at all but rather a compliment to the vegetable. Chef DeWayne paraded out a variety of dishes for us to try including bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms and some remarkable mushrooms in a pesto broth. A good time was had by all!

On a sidebar, if you’re a beer person you need to checkout the River Bar at the Edgewater Casino. They have 99 bottles of beer available and include some unique offerings such as Speakeasy Prohibition Ale – a nice enough selection worth stopping in for.

Our final morning included a hosted buffet at Harrah’s Laughlin which is strangely located up the hill and unfortunately not connected to the rest of the Riverwalk. We were even provided with copies of Harrah’s Seven Star Chef’s Cookbook which has a variety of recipes from chefs throughout the Harrah’s system including tow of my favorites: Paula Deen and John Besh.

Portabella Mushroom Ravioli

I enjoyed our short trip to Laughlin and my initial impression is this – Laughlin may not be a food destination but there are enough good meals in town to make it worthwhile for a weekend. In particular, a quick trip down for Chef’s Food Fest coupled with a couple more meals about town would make for a final little excursion away from home. Just be sure to say hi to Butch if you make it by the Regency!

Thanks once again to the Las Vegas and Laughlin Chambers of Commerce, R&R Partners and all the good industry folk in Laughlin for your hospitality. I’m looking forward to returning next year!