Competitive eating, or speed eating, is an activity in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions can last up to thirty minutes, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner. Competitive eating is most popular in the United States, Canada, and Japan, where organized professional eating contests often offer prizes, including cash. History Precursors An early competitive eater was Nicholas Wood, the Great Eater of Kent, whose skill was featured in Iohn Taylor's 1630 pamphlet The great eater, of Kent, or Part of the admirable teeth and stomacks exploits of Nicholas Wood. The pamphlet, which Taylor asserts is factually true, reports a series of Wood's stunts including eating a whole sheep raw in one sitting (including the wool, horns, and bones), 7 dozen rabbits in one meal, and 400 pigeons in another meal. He was a local celebrity in Kent and performed at fairs, festivals, and accepting eating challenges from wealthy patrons. He lost a wager on two occasions: once for being unable to finish ale-soaked bread, and another time at the home of Sir William Sedley, when he overate and fell into an 8-hour food coma; after he awakened, Sedley's servants put Wood in the stocks to shame him for his failure. 19th century The first recorded pie eating contest took place in Toronto in 1878. It was organised as a charity fundraising event and won by Albert Piddington. It is not known how many pies were consumed. The prize was a “Handsomely Bound Book”. Following this, eating contestsparticularly those involving piebecame popular across Canada and the United States, traditionally at county fairs. There are some notable examples of early eating contestants, such as Joe McCarthy, who consumed 31 pies in a competition held at Charles Tanby's Saloon in 1897. Frank Dotzler is also noteworthy after consuming “275 oysters, 8 & 1/8th pounds of steak, 12 rolls, and 3 large pies, all washed down with 11 cups of coffee” at an event organised by the Manhattan Fat Men's Club in 1909. The recent surge in the popularity of competitive eating is due in large part to the development of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, an annual holiday tradition that has been held on July 4 every year since 1916 at Coney Island. While