Competitive eating and eating challenges
have generally been seen as an American phenomenon but have been gradually
growing in popularity here in the UK. The END spoke to Kate Ovens and the Rub
Smokehouse restaurant to find out more.
By James D'Arcy
The Challenger
Kate first started doing challenge’s when
she ‘’was studying at Newcastle University. I had always enjoyed watching Adam
Richman’s Man V Food and thought to myself ‘I reckon I could do that’.’’
Kate’s first challenge was the ‘Gut-Buster
Challenge’ a 24oz cheeseburger with bacon, garnish and some potato wedges,
which had to be finished in 20 minutes. Kate was the only one out of her
friends to complete the challenge and has been doing them ever since.
While Kate isn’t a competitive eater and
does the challenges for fun she does ‘’try and exercise and eat right building
up to a challenge’’.
What exactly makes a good eating challenge?
‘’Definitely the tastier the food challenge- the easier I find them.’’ Burger challenges
are also a good go-to ‘’because I know roughly how to tackle them and how many oz.’s
I can eat before I will start finding it tough.’’
What she did find tough was a 27-inch pizza.
It had ‘’a generous 90 minute time limit. But by about 20 mins I had finished
most of it- then for another 50 mins I essentially just looked at it. It
defeated me but…I got incredibly close.’’
To budding competitive eaters it’s
important to ‘’enjoy it and be smart when it comes to dieting/exercising in the
mean time.’’ ‘’Without the dieting and exercising in the mean time- it’s not
really possible to not gain a bit of weight from doing this.’’
Finally, what’s next for Kate? ‘’Hopefully
more presenting work but if not- perhaps more digital marketing as that’s a
massive interest of mine.’’
The Restaurant
How do the restaurants come up with ideas
for these challenges? We spoke to Michael Wathen from The Rub Smokehouse in
Birmingham to find out more.
The inspiration comes from the directors
‘’who are big foodies…and have a love for the American style BBQ food and
flavours.’’ The main challenge the restaurant offers is the ‘Nugzilla’ where
contests must devour a giant 6,000-calorie chicken nugget in the fastest time
possible.
The Nugzilla ‘’has been seen by over 70 million
people around the world…the fastest time stands at 6 minutes and 20 seconds …
anyone who can beat this time will receive £600 in rub vouchers.’’
While Mike has not tried to complete the
challenge himself ‘’all employees try the dishes so we know what the
competitors/diner can expect.’’ The Nugzilla isn’t the only challenge offered,
eating events are hosted around the calendar with a recent chicken tenders
event having ‘’150 guests participate.’’
New dishes are created every month with
Mike’s personal favourite being ‘’The Philly Cheese Steak Burger. Double cheeseburger,
tons of cheese and shaved rib-eye steak topped with a cheese steak wrap. A
little bacon and peppers and onions. BOOM!’’
While originally emerging from the USA the
market for competitive eating looks set to stay ‘’its an up and coming trend
that I think will continue to grow.’’ ‘’We see a lot of regulars who attend our
events and enjoy the competitive nature of stuffing their faces.’’
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