A Better Way to Eat

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A BETTER WAY TO EAT

The story of Takeru Kobayashi



Takeru Kobayashi doesn’t like to think about hot dogs much right now because he is preparing to eat a very large pile of them

not for pleasure this is what he does for a living in the world of competitive eating as the sport is known

Kobi is the biggest star that has ever been.


it began in japan it began backback in japan he was a college student he was a college student a friend signed up for a televised eating contest a friend signed him him up for a televised eating contest he gave a try $5,000 grand prize he gave it a ittry for for the the $5,000 grand prize it was a four–stage eating contest it was a four–stage eating contest

starting boiled potatoes starting withwith boiled potatoes

a seafood bowl thenthen a seafood bowl

mongolian mutton barbeque mongolian mutton barbeque

finishing up with noodles thenthen finishing up with noodles

studied earlier contests kobikobi studied earlier contests likelike thisthis oneone qualifying stages onesones withwith qualifying stages he saw people went so hard in the early rounds he saw thatthat mostmost people went so hard in the early rounds if they did advance thatthat eveneven if they did advance didn’t energy theythey didn’t havehave the the energy or stomach capacity or stomach capacity to finish strong to finish strong sodecided he decided to eat enough at each stage so he to eat justjust enough at each stage enough to qualify justjust enough to qualify for for the the nextnext when it came down to the final round andand when it came down to the final round he blasted others he blasted pastpast the the others andand wonwon

having tasted victory asamateur an amateur having tasted victory as an immediately thought about turning kobikobi immediately thought about turning propro

I reall becaus really that m person


ly was shocked se at that time I y didn’t think I could eat much more than the normal n.




AT HOME IN JAPAN, KOBI BEGAN TO TRAIN FOR CONEY ISLANd – the world cup of competitive eating American–stylehot hotdogs dogsweren’t weren’tavailable availablewhere wherehehelived lived American–style usedsausages sausagesmade madeofofminced mincedfish fish sosoheheused hot–dogbuns bunseither either NoNohot–dog cutbread breaddown downtotosize size sosohehecut beganaalong longseries seriesofofexperiments experiments HeHebegan Forinstance: instance:ripping rippingthe thehot hotdog dogand andbun bunininhalf half For beforeeating eatingitit before knownasasthe thesolomon solomonmethod method known foundanother anotherway waytotospeed speedthings thingsupup hehefound

separatingthe thesausage sausagefrom fromthe thebun bun separating

andeating eatingtwo twohalves halvesofofthe thehot hotdog dogatatthe thesame sametime time and

thesausage sausageitself itself the beingslick slickand anddense dense being actuallywent wentdown downpretty prettyeasy easy actually buteating eatingaahot hotdog dogbun bunononits itsown own but withoutthe themeat meat without is harder than you’d think



du


soto tofight fightthe thedry– dry–bun bunproblem problem so kobicame cameup upwith withaanovel novelsolution solution kobi

unking fedhimself himselfthe the asashehefed bunless bunless broken broken hotdogs dogswith withone onehand hand hot usedthe theother otherhand hand heheused dunkthe thebun bunininwater water totodunk thenhe’d he’dsqueeze squeezeout outthe theexcess excesswater water then andsmush smushthe thebun buninto intohis hismouth mouth and

kindofoflike likeaabun bunball ball kind

notonly onlydid didthis thismake makeeating eatingfaster faster not butnow nowhehedidn’t didn’thave havetototake taketime time but betweeneating eatingand anddrinking drinking between


i simply want number one in the world


ted to be

d at this

Takeru Kobayashi


takeru kobayashi d eating more hot do human being in hist


dreamed a dream of ogs than any tory nathan’s annual hot dog eating contest is an international event champions from all over the world converging on coney island the contest had been going on for roughly four decades the world record – 25 1/8 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes


i showed thetime firsttotime to compete when iwhen showed up theup first compete i did notabout think about the other competitors i did not think the other competitors i wasoffull the feeling i was full the of feeling of of

i havehere cometohere i have come winto win

therings bell rings and theand bell and i to start and i start eat to eat 12 minutes and forand 12 for minutes i eat i eat and i break and i break and i separate and i separate and i slurp and i slurp and i dunk and i dunk and i smush and i smush and i swallow and i swallow and i shake and i shake all that and i doand alli do that andthe then therings bell rings and then bell andi see thenmyi see my number and then number i onlyitsaw it at i only saw at the endthe end i wasn’t the number i wasn’t lookinglooking at all at all the at number hot dogs i ate 50i ate hot50 dogs

The american in awe. the c who inhaled shattering t


ns just dropped their dogs clear cut wiener: kobayashi, d 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes. the world record.


the kid is inc he was like a putting them


credible. a conveyor belt, m in two at a time


somtimes you win I always change my mentality very quickly because someone issimply havingsaid a bad day somtimes youyou win and sometimes someone beats because someone because you are having a bad day is having a bad day and sometimes someone even winning or losing doesn’t really meanbeats you you are the best because you are having a bad day even so when you look at thewinning long runor losing doesn’t really mean youcompeting are the best you can’t think about against a rival so when you look theare long that doesn’t even tell you 100% thatatyou therun best thinkyourself about competing against a rival what you can onlyyou do iscan’t compare to yourself

that doesn’t even tell you 100% that you are the best

youcan canactually only do isgocompare yourself and try to see howwhat far you to yourself and try to see how far you can actually go

How do you hand han defeat?


ndle dle


tht hadtotochange changethe thementalit mentali i ihad itit wasj ititwas

Kobayashi redefined the problem he w


the keytotome mewas wasthat that he key itythat thatititwas wasaasport sport ty twasn’t wasn’thaving havingaameal meal justaaphysical physicalaction action just

was trying to solve




This book was created by Michael Tarazi, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis. The text is taken from the Freakonomics podcast A Better Way to Eat. The typefaces used are Bebas Neue and Univers.



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