Coors Light, the “Silver Bullet”, a 4.2% abv beer first brewed in 1978 as a low calorie beer. It is Coors top selling brand, and the third-best selling beer in the United States. It has won several medals for “American-Style Light Beer” at the Great American Beer Festival, and is the official beer sponsor of the NFL and the NFL Network.
Takeru Kobayashi (小林尊, Kobayashi Takeru) (b. March 15, 1978) is a Japanese competitive eater and a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). He held the world record for hot dog eating for nearly six years, and holds several other eating records, and is the second ranked eater in the world according to the International Federation of Competitive Eating.
The 92nd annual [Nathan's International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest] was held on July 4, 2007, and was televised live on ESPN at 12 p.m. EDT. Six-time defending champion Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi was beaten by Joey Chestnut, who won by eating a world record-breaking 66 hot dogs and buns.
On June 25, 2007 [Takeru] Kobayashi announced on his blog that he seriously injured his jaw during training. He stated that he can only open his jaw about the width of a fingertip. Kobayashi’s participation in the July 4, 2007 Nathan’s contest continued as scheduled. He was able to eat a personal record 63 hot dogs, though his mark was bettered by Joey Chestnut.
Other world-eating records held by [Takeru] Kobayashi include 17.7 pounds of cow brains in 15 minutes and 20 pounds (9 kg) of rice balls in 30 minutes.
Takako Akasaka (Japanese: 赤阪尊子 Akasaka Takako b. February 24, 1955) is a Japanese competitive eater from Osaka, Japan. She is considered the most successful female competitive eater in Japan.
Akasaka is known as an excellent long-distance eater, specializing in sweet food, which earned her the nickname “The Sweet Queen” or “The Queen” among her admirers.
The Japanese word gyōza (ギョーザ, ギョウザ) was derived from the reading of 餃子 (Jiaozi in Mandarin Chinese) in the Shandong Chinese dialect (giaozi) and is written using the same Chinese characters.
The most prominent difference of Japanese-style gyōza from Chinese style jiaozi is the rich garlic flavor, which is less noticeable in the Chinese version, and the fact that Japanese-style gyōza are very lightly flavored with salt, soy, etc. Therefore, they are always served with soy-based dipping sauce (tare) seasoned with rice vinegar and/or rāyu (ラー油, known as làyóu (辣油) in China, red chili pepper-flavored sesame oil). The most common recipe found in Japan is a mixture of minced pork, garlic, cabbage, and nira (Chinese chives), and sesame oil, which is then wrapped into thinly-rolled dough skins.
Physically [Takeru] Kobayashi has undergone drastic change from his earlier appearances on the competitive eating circuit (weighing in at a mere 110 pounds in his beginning competitions and then 144 pounds in later events.) This is due in large part to his more recent endeavors in weight training. By training with weights and working out, Kobayashi has increased his metabolism, which in turn has helped him to burn more calories. This training is used by Kobayashi to maintain his overall health as well as helping him to elude excess calories from being stored as fat. Kobayashi’s official Web site gives his height as 173 cm (5 ft 7 in) and his weight as 75 kg (165 lb), but in a June 29, 2006, entry on his blog, he says that his weight grew to over 196 pounds during 2006, still being under 10 percent body fat.
[Takeru] Kobayashi expands his stomach for a competition by eating larger and larger amounts of food, and then exercises to ensure that fat will not impede expansion of his stomach during a competition. According to a 2006 episode of MTV’s documentary series True Life, Kobayashi has a condition called gastroptosis, an abnormal downward displacement of the stomach. It plays a role in his eating ability because his stomach is able to expand below the rib cage unlike most people, allowing him to take in large portions of food.
Hot dogs are traditionally made from beef, pork, or a combination of those meats. Unlike many other sausages (which may be sold cooked or uncooked), hot dogs are always cooked before being offered commercially. Unless they have spoiled, hot dogs may be safely eaten without further cooking though they are usually warmed up before serving. Vegetarian hot dogs and sausages which are made completely from meat analogue are also widely available in most areas where hot dogs are popular.
Natsuko “Gal” Sone (Japanese: “ギャル” 曽根 菜津子 “gyaru” Sone Natsuko, b. December 4, 1985) is a female Japanese competitive eater. Her popularity has helped produce a resurgence in Japanese competitive eating or oogui after the outcry following the death of a Japanese schoolboy imitating an eating stunt in 2002 resulted in a three year hiatus for major Japanese eating contests.
Donburi (丼, lit. “bowl”, also frequently abbreviated as “don”, thus less commonly spelled “domburi”) is a Japanese “rice bowl dish” consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. Donburi meals are served in oversized rice bowls also called donburi. Donburi are sometimes called sweetened or savory stews on rice.
[Takeru] Kobayashi has won Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest for six years in a row.
2006: 53 3⁄4 hot dogs
2005: 49 hot dogs
2004: 53 1⁄2 hot dogs
2003: 44 1⁄2 hot dogs
2002: 50 1⁄2 hot dogs
2001: 50 hot dogs
Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ, Doragon Bōru Zetto) is the adaptation of the second portion of the immensely popular Dragon Ball manga written and drawn by Akira Toriyama, this makes it the sequel to the Dragon Ball anime. It was initially released in Japan and Hong Kong, and later elsewhere in the world including the United States. The ‘Z’ was originally added to the title by Toriyama to signify it as being the ending portion of the Dragon Ball series.
TV Funhouse is the title of a recurring skit on NBC’s Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel, as well as a short-lived spinoff series that ran on Comedy Central.
Kasou Taishou (欽ちゃん＆香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞; Kinchan and Katori Shingo’s All Japan Costume Grand Prix) is a semi-annual show on NTV in which various amateur groups (or solo artists) perform short skits, which are rated by a panel of judges. Especially in recent years, many of the skits have revolved around clever methods of “faking” cinematic special effects on a live stage. The most famous of these skits, and the most successful at “fake special effects” was a skit which is widely known as “Matrix ping pong”.
The marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, consists of sugar or corn syrup, beaten egg whites, gelatin that has been pre-softened in water, gum arabic, and flavorings, whipped to a spongy consistency. The traditional recipe used an extract from the mucilaginous root of the marshmallow plant, a shrubby herb (Althaea officinalis), instead of gelatin; the mucilage performed as a cough suppressant.
Breakout is a Pong-like arcade game introduced by Atari in 1976, with a follow-up, Super Breakout, appearing in 1978.
Despite the collective will of the Americans to take back the [Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest] prize, only 1 U.S. contestant has come close to Japanese records. The best U.S. competitor is Joey Chestnut, a college student from California. His 2006 tally of 50 hot dogs is 3.5 hot dogs behind Takeru Kobayashi’s 2004 record of 53.5 hot dogs (a little under 13.5 seconds per hot dog). He finished with 52 hot dogs and came in second at Nathan’s in 2006. Results from the 2006 Las Vegas qualifying contest give some degree of hope to American competitors that they will be able to wrest the belt from Kobayashi in future contests. Kobayashi is the only person in the history of the contest to win six competitions (2001-2006) in a row.
Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi (小林尊, Kobayashi Takeru, b. March 15, 1978 in Nagano, Japan) is a Japanese competitive eater and a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, who holds the world record for hot dog eating as six-time consecutive champion of Nathan’s Famous hot dog-eating competition. The record of 97 Krystals (hamburgers) was set by Kobayashi on October 28, 2006. He is the top ranked eater in the world according to the IFOCE. He is the longest and current reigning world champion in competitive hot dog eating.
Café au lait, literally “coffee with milk”, is a French coffee drink.
