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The Lonesome Independence Day Of Kobayashi, Eater In Exile

Luke O'Brien — On a May evening, in a cramped biergarten behind a German restaurant off the Bowery in Manhattan, Takeru Kobayashi sat down to a plate of Rheinischer Sauerbraten mit Kartoffelklößen und Rutkraut. First, he produced a small camera and began photographing the sauerbraten for his blog, where he catalogs his personal gustatory experiences. He was dressed in yellow pants, a summer scarf, and a blazer with multicolored markings resembling graffiti. Some nearby diners looked up when the camera flashed, but Kobayashi, the great Kobayashi, went unrecognized, in the city where he became a celebrity.

At one time or another, Kobayashi, a wispily built 33-year-old from Nagano, has eaten 41 lobster rolls in 10 minutes; 57 cow brains (weighing 17.7 pounds) in 15 minutes; 20 pounds of rice balls in 30 minutes, or around 12 percent of his body weight. Most notably, he was the first person to devour 50 hot dogs at the Nathan's Fourth of July contest on Coney Island, nearly doubling the previous record for the event, the first of six consecutive victories from 2001 through 2006.

Kobayashi is living in New York, but he will not be at Nathan's tomorrow. The man and the event, having made each other internationally famous, are in a long-running contractual dispute, one which landed Kobayashi in jail after he showed up at last year's contest. Questions abound. Is he trying to blaze a trail for independent eaters? Is he clinging to past glory? Or is he just crazy? According to Rich Shea, one of the Nathan's promoters, Kobayashi has to decide "whether he's the Che Guevara of gurgitation or the Kenny Powers of power eating." I spent some time with Kobayashi over the past few weeks in an effort to answer these questions, not to mention a deeper one:

What goes on his kitchen?

We'll get to those in a bit. First: a meal at the biergarten. This was Kobayashi's first encounter with Rhineland beef roast with potato dumplings and braised red cabbage. Maggie James, his half-Japanese, half-American translator/manager/girlfriend, said that he had, in fact, never tried German food. Kobayashi speaks enough English to answer questions, but relies on James to translate his exact meaning for more complicated responses.

This was dinner, with no clock. Under these circumstances, Kobayashi said, he likes to savor his meals. In competition, he will relax his throat and let food "drop" into his stomach, which he says hangs lower in the abdomen than normal, allowing it to expand more. It's a condition called gastroptosis that he shares with his father, who once entered an eating contest himself. Kobayashi focuses so completely during contests that he blocks out flavor.

“May I have S'more?”

Camping is one of my favorite things to do. We always make (what we call) ‘hobo dinners’. Lay out large sheets of foil (depending on how many of these you want to make), make a hamburger patty and lay it in the middle. Add whatever veggies (I usually do corn, green beans, potatoes and sometimes tomatoes) on top. Put plenty of salt, pepper, and sometimes I add oregano and add a little liquid (when I use canned veggies I use some liquid from the cans). And then bundle the foil up at the top so nothing leaks out. Throw them in/ontop of a grill on the fire and let them cook. They’re yummy, simple and easy to clean up!

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