Menchetti Ekes Out Meatball Victory

4/20/04

Menchetti Ekes Out Meatball

Victory

The Peter Pan Diner in Bayshore, NY hosted their second annual Meatball eating contest on Tuesday, April 20th. 2004. The Meatball Contest was a 4 minute event which involved one ounce meatballs.

Gentleman Joe Menchetti barely edged out Bulldozer Johnson and newcomer Mike “The Meat Eater” Murphy. All three top finishers were separated by two meatballs and finished with 40, 39 and 38 meatballs respectively. The biggest surprise, however was Chowhound Chapman’s 4th place finish with only 33 meatballs. In 5th place was Mike the “Make- up Man” who improved upon last year’s performance from 27 to 30.5 Meatballs.

The performances by all these eaters are a testament to the quality and ability of eaters in the Independent competitive eating scene. AICE is happy to report that these independent eaters would have easily held their own against other top 20 world ranked gurgitators. When you look at the fact that current record holder Cookie Jarvis only did 43 meatballs last year and that he routinely beats other top ranked eaters by 20%, then you realize how well the top finishers did.