Summer highlights many festivities, including the start of competitive eating season. And Bay area eaters who're into gorging on foodstuffs as fast as possible are in luck. The Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest (its name alone is a mouthful) will bring its qualifying circuit to Plant City's Florida Strawberry Festival at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 1.
The circuit plans to stop in more than a dozen U.S. cities, and the Strawberry Fest, running from Thursday, Feb. 26, to Sunday, March 8, will host this year's first qualifying contest.
Competitors will put their undying affection for the delectable lunch item to the test (this reporter loves dogs, but I don't know if I love them that much) at the festival's Tampa Bay Times Variety Stage.
The contest's top two winners, male and female, will earn a spot to battle it out during July 4's notable Coney Island competition, which drew 35,000 fans in recent years, according to a news release.
Once there, contestants will face hot dog-eating champs Joey Chestnut of California, who holds the world record for devouring 69 buns and dogs in 10 minutes, and Nevada's Miki Sudo, who downed 34 dogs and buns in the same time last year.
To register, entrants must be older than 18, and festgoers may come to watch the dogs fly, too.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2015.