A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of competing in my very first professional eating contest at Ra Sushi in downtown Baltimore. The contest was set up in a number of bracketed rounds in honor of the March Madness Basketball Tournament and all of the proceeds from the event went to benefit a breast cancer charity whose name escapes me.
Each round consisted of four competitors. Each person was given two uncut Tootsi Maki rolls and a glass of water. The two that finished these rolls the fastest advanced on to the next round in the bracket. I did quite well at first; demolishing my competition in round one and finishing even to move on in round two. By the time the semi finals were reached however, I was in another league of competition and was sadly knocked out by the amazing gormandizer that went on to win the event.
The whole thing was a great deal of fun and I even got some exposure from the local news media! I will certainly be keeping an eye out for any future eating contests in the area as they combine two of my favorite things in the world; eating and competitive sport!
