Horsemen of the Esophagus
Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream
“To be up on stage, shoving food in your face, beats everyday existence for most people.” —David “Coondog” O’Karma, competitive eater
“Hungry” Charles Hardy. Ed “Cookie” Jarvis. Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut. Will such names one day be looked back upon as the pioneers of a new manifestation of the irrepressible American appetite for competition, money, fame, and self-transformation? They will if the promoters of the newly emerging sport of competitive eating have their way. In Horsemen of the Esophagus, Jason Fagone reports on the year he spent in the belly of this awakening beast.
Fagone’s trek takes him to 27 eating contests on two continents, from the World Grilled Cheese Eating Championship in Venice Beach, California, to Nagoya,…
Jason Fagone has written about science, sports, and culture for GQ, Wired, The Atlantic, New York, Grantland, Mother Jones, the New York Times Magazine, and The Best American Sports Writing. He is the author of one previous nonfiction book, Horsemen of the Esophagus, about competitive eaters, and is the recipient of a Knight-Wallace Fellowship in journalism. He lives in Texas with his wife and daughter. Visit @jfagone on Twitter.