Tag: Twinkies

How Many Hot Dogs in Ten Minutes?

Food eating contests aren’t really my thing- in fact, I don’t understand the urge to prepare and practice for such an event! Or what one might feel like afterwards.

But today when my sister pointed out this sign, I tried to fathom what the numbers meant.  And the countdown ’til July 4th is visible on this sign.

My sister found a stat on a guy who in 1972 ate 19 and in 2012 the guy ate 68!  That’s quite an increase in consumption.

Did I mention that this effort takes place in TEN MINUTES time???    I don’t even want to witness this contest in person but I find it amazing that it exists.

This is an INTERNATIONAL contest. You can read more about it here  And yes, there is an International Federation of Competitive Eating  who approves such contests.

You don’t just show up. You have to qualify. Joey Chestnut has been winning since 2007 but competition is nipping at his heels.

There’s a female champion, Sonya Thomas.

A little controversy- this guy’s photo was removed from the sign in 2011 and  last year Takeru Kobayashi wasn’t allowed to compete and ate hot dogs on the rooftop in Manhattan?  Check out his other food competitions if you wish- includes cow brains and Twinkies but not eaten simultaneously, different contests at this link.    My sister said when he is not competing he eats cabbage and fasts. Good plan.

He pioneered the Solomon Method- break in half and eat both halves at once then eat the bun.  (or something like that)

  You can jump and down while you eat them.  Or sway side to side.

Hot Dog Eating Countdown Sign

 

 

Mary found the sign AFTER we had each consumed one hot dog with sauerkraut and mustard.  I was reminiscing about visiting Nathan’s on Coney Island with my 3 kids in November 1991. When we were there at Thanksgiving the place was deserted.

Two of Nathan's hot dogs

 

 

 

And if hot dogs aren’t for you there are the frog legs….

(note the calories listed on each menu item)

Frog Legs on the Menu

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathan's Sign

 

 

 

 

 

Famous Frankfurters

 

 

 

 

Nathan's World Famous

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The Junk Food Cookbook and a Bonus Pack of Twinkies®

T
Have you ever actually tasted a Twinkie®

 

 

Twinkies® have been in the news lately. They’ve been in existence since 1930. I saw one fried at Kennywood.  You might remember the reference the Twinkies Defense?  And now the company is filing for Chapter 11. With word of bankruptcy- the future of Twinkies unknown.

Would you believe that PBS has an Ode to Twinkies contest, haikus and all, to honor this American snack classic (from the label)?  You can click on the link and read some of them, no matter how you feel about Twinkies

Surely they could accommodate different forms- limerick, sonnet, a villanelle or sestina.

I’m not a Twinkies fan but that sure sounds unAmerican.

I’m fascinated by the snack cake phenomenon. Little Debbie, Tastycake, Drake’s Cakes and Moon Pies etc. and I am always looking for food to photograph.

The other night my friend R(who is the inspiration for this post today) was over for dinner and we were talking Twinkies®.  I showed her the recipe in my old 1979 Junk Food Cookbook.  We spoke of Urban legends.  Someone told us that a penny left in Coca-Cola for three weeks will disintegrate but a Twinkie® soaked in the same Coca-Cola the same time period, remains unchanged. Makes one want to experiment, though, just to test the hypothesis.

But Science Fair projects aside, I thought I’d purchase a pack of Twinkies and photograph them and include the wacky cookbook, too.

After school I went to the Bryant Street Market and the Hostess selection on the wire rack was slim.  One package of Snoballs, the pink rubbery marshmallow coating and coconut flakes over a half sphere of chocolate cake and white fluffy filling in the center, two wax coated paper sleeves of fruit pies and the  Bonus Packs of Twinkies with an extra cake.   Great!

Nutrition Information is an Oxymoron

440 calories from this package alone!  YIKES!

I thought it would be cool to post the homemade version out of the Junk Food Cookbook but then I read the front page and decided against it. Alas, I have zero permission from the publisher.  Copyright important to respect and no time to write to the publisher and get permission.

If you want to see a list of sightings in movies and TV shows there’s a list at this link

Interior of a Twinkie

 

Twinkie Twinkie Little Cake

How long do you take to bake?

Most of your ingredients

Sound like they are fake.

Perhaps if Hansel and Gretel had dropped

Twinkie crumbs, the birds wouldn’t have touched them

and they could have found their way out of the woods.

 

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