There’s an AP story out now about Sonya Thomas, a 100-pound woman who “ate 26 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes Wednesday at a New York restaurant, winning the World Grilled Cheese Eating Championship.”
I’m a grilled cheese fan. There are few pleasures in life that are so simple, yet so tasty — especially when there’s two slices of cheese involved. I’ve even been known to add a little bacon on rare occasions. What’s remarkable about this “news” story is not that Sonya Thomas ate 26 grilled cheese sandwiches — the remarkable part is found further down in the article:
On the eating contest circuit, Thomas is known as the “Black Widow,” apparently because she has defeated so many larger men.
Did you catch that? There’s actually an eating contest circuit. Back in the college dormitory days, I watched a guy down 30 raw eggs in a dorm-wide exhibition of skills. As I recall, the fearless fellow dropped out of school soon after, never to be heard from again. Little did he know he could have taken his show on the road and made the big-time…