Major League Eating Conquers Red Beans and Rice

16:03 January 28, 2020
By: Emily Ahmad

In the first competition of its kind, the world's best professional eaters will gather at the Louisiana Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots to see who can wolf down the most of the Creole favorite, Red Beans and Rice, in eight minutes of furiously fast eating. As part of the Inaugural Blue Runner Foods World Red Beans and Rice Eating Championship, Major League Eating will host the top competitive eaters on February 8 at 3:30 p.m. in a bid to bring the world of professional eating to the Big Easy.

Spectators can see some of the biggest names in the business doing what they do best: stuffing insane amounts of food into their mouths at a rate that makes your entire Thanksgiving feast look like an appetizer. Among the competitors will be eating royalty Joey Chestnut, the number one competitive eater in the world and darling of the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, which takes place every summer in Coney Island. The San Jose native has plenty of titles to his name, including the Hooters Worldwide Wing Eating Champion and Fat Boy's Pizza Champion, but his worldwide fame comes from his record 11 Mustard Yellow Belts won as a result of his masterful Coney performances, like in 2019 when he scarfed down 71 hotdogs in just ten minutes.

Other star competitors include the world's second best eater, Geoffrey Esper, who holds world records for eating Hostess Donnettes (235 in six minutes) and Strawberry Shortcake (17.5 pounds in eight minutes), as well as the fifth-ranked eater in the world, Atlanta native Gideon Oji, who holds the Kale eating record (22.5 pounds in eight minutes). Fans hoping for a hometown dark-horse victory can root for Adrian Morgan, a Baton Rouge native and LSU graduate who is currently ranked ninth in the world.

If the excitement of watching sweaty men eat like they haven't seen food in five years, or the anticipation of seeing whether it is in fact possible to keep down several pounds of Red Beans and Rice isn't enough to bring you to the Fair Grounds, perhaps you can be persuaded by this: Blue Runner Foods will provide a free bowl of Red Beans and Rice to all attendees! With free admission to see an internationally followed competition and free food to boot, what isn't there to love about this deliciously quirky event?

At the end of the day, a new world record will be set and over $3,000 will be awarded to the winners. Don't miss this opportunity to witness history; you surely won't leave with an empty stomach!

Learn more at fairgroundsracecourse.com/

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