A sport in which contestants are tasked with eating as much of a particular type of food within a time limit, for example, one of the most popular events involves eating as many hotdogs as possible in ten minutes, with the current record being 68 hot dogs eaten by notable eater Joey Chestnut.

The sport has attracted some controversy in the past. The sport is most famous in Japan and America, the latter of which suffers from an obesity epidemic, and some people criticize the sport for promoting gluttony and worsening the obesity problem. Others deride it as a waste of food that could have gone to the needy instead.

Most contestants are unexpectedly thin, as one of the important qualities of a competitive eater is having a stomach that can easily expand to accomodate large amounts of food inside it. In overweight people, the stomach is surrounded by a band of fat which has poor elasticity, hampering their ability to compete effectively.