Salon.com > Street food

Police arrest Kobayashi for hot dog contest outburst

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:01:00 +0000

Hot dog!

Competitive eater Joey Chestnut has held on to his title at the annual July Fourth hot dog eating contest at New York's Coney Island, but one of his biggest rivals tried to crash the celebration and has been taken into custody.

Chestnut chomped down on 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes on Sunday to win the annual Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest for the fourth year in a row.

Watching from the crowd was six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi (tah-KEH'-roo koh-bah-YAH'-shee), who has not signed a contract with Major League Eating to be free to compete in contests sanctioned by other groups.

But Kobayashi went on stage after the competition. Police officers grabbed him, and he tried to hold onto police barricades as they took him into custody.

A Singapore fling (with street food)

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:15:00 +0000

I have to start by telling you that it is very hot in Singapore. You don't so much walk as swim through the humidity. I'm not sure it's physically possible to be comfortable in this kind of heat, but even still, at all hours, locals are face-deep in bowls of hot food -- soups, stir-fried noodles, spicy lamb curry. This is a city wholly obsessed with eating, people who treat meals with reverence and snacks with joy. They will, with no prompting, tell you exactly where to find their favorite soup, will watch you put condiments on your noodles and not hesitate to tell you that you are doing it all wrong. A local food writer, KF Seetoh, is a major cultural star, and top-rated restaurants in his guide, "Makansutra," are marked by the phrase, "Die die must try," which he translates as something along the lines of "You have to eat there even if it kills you." Singapore is my kind of town.

Behind the food truck divide

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:06:00 +0000

Gourmet food trucks have been one of the more high-profile food trends over the past few years (L.A.’s Kogi Korean-Mexican fusion truck, New York’s Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, and even the Daniel Boulud food truck), but their hip vibe hasn’t kept them safe from red tape. As a recent Washington Post article made clear, truck operators face a myriad of complicated licensing and zoning regulations in cities around the country -- and hefty fines if, for example, they’re caught parked too long in the wrong place.