Dowbrigade

In the last few years competitive eating has been transformed
into a national circuit complete with television coverage,
prize money and its own governing body, the International Federation
of Competitive Eating.

The federation oversees 150 events and counts 3,000 eaters in its register.
Its competitions boast strict rules and regulations — vomiting leads to
automatic disqualification; any food in the mouth at the buzzer counts
if swallowed thereafter.

Its competitors include superstars like the 144-pound Japanese
professional speed-eater Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, a 25-year-old who
holds the world record of 50 1/2 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. Kobayashi
is said to make more than $150,000 a year between the American and Japanese
circuits.

from the New York Times