美国人吃吃喝喝过感恩节

Who Eats the Most on Thanksgiving? These Americans 美国人吃吃喝喝过感恩节

Many Americans spend Thanksgiving with family and friends around a table of roast turkey, sweet potatoes and cranberry 1 sauce.

But for others, it's a competition.

Across the United States, there are contests to see who can eat the most pumpkin 2 pie. These events start in October and continue through Thanksgiving.  

Elk 3 Grove 4, California hosts the Giant Pumpkin Festival World Pumpkin Pie Eating Championship. Matthew Stonie won last year by eating 20 pounds, 13 ounces of pumpkin pie in 8 minutes. In other words, about 9 and a half kilograms. That was a “world record,” reported the International Federation 5 of Competitive Eating in New York City (IFOCE).

Stonie won $5,000.

The IFOCE website praised Stonie’s “effortless speed” at the table:

“Like a silent automobile 6 in top gear careening past you on the highway. Like the boxer 7 with lightning jabs. Like a speed skater in a very tight bodysuit, long limbs stretching further than the clock can tick. The great ones make it look easy.”

Some of the pumpkin-pie eating contests dissolve into gluttony. An example is the IFOCE’s YouTube video: “Thanksgiving Invitational – Pumpkin Pie” eating contest:

Others have a more light-hearted approach to pumpkin pie-eating contests. Students at the Duthie Center for Engineering in Louisville, Kentucky posted their pumpkin pie-eating contest on Facebook. It was a friendly social affair:

In Broomfield, Colorado, their Turkey Day celebration takes a more health-conscious approach. They hold a pumpkin pie-eating contest, but contestants 8 just have to eat one piece of pie (or about one-sixth of a pie) as fast as possible. There’s a 5 kilometer and 10 kilometer “Turkey Day” race afterwards, for those who want to run off excess weight.

And at Pumpkin Palooza -- a pumpkin pie-eating contest in Sparks, Nevada -- the organizers note on their website:

“The winners are chosen by audience applause, so style, flair 9 and humor count as much as anything.”   

Words in This Story

turkey – n. a large American bird that is related to the chicken and that is hunted or raised by people for its meat 

potatoes – n. a round root of a plant that has brown, yellow, or red skin and white or yellow flesh and that is eaten as a vegetable

cranberry – adj. a small, dark red berry or the plant that produces it

contests – n. an event in which people try to win by doing something better than others

pounds – n. a unit of weight that is equal to 16 ounces or 0.4536 kilograms

ounces – n.  a unit of weight equal to 1/?? pound (about 28 grams)

careening – v.  to go forward quickly without control

highway – n. a main road that connects cities, towns, etc.

boxer – n. someone who participates in the sport of boxing

skater – n. a person who skates on ice

limb – n. a leg or arm

dissolve – v. to end or disappear or cause (something) to end or disappear

gluttony – n. the act or habit of eating or drinking too much

kilometer – n.  a unit of length equal to 1,000 meters

applause – n. a show of approval or appreciation 10 at a play, speech, sporting event, etc., in which people strike their hands together over and over

flair – n.  an unusual and appealing quality or style