Clash of the gluttons

Shanghaiist was randomly searching for pictures and news, which we often do while smoking Sobrante Mints girlie menthol cigarettes and drinking Mr. Bond black coffee at 1 am. We found these photos of an eating contest, the final for which was held Sunday at the Jiuguang Department Store (stupidly called "Ongoing Department Store" in English). If we had read the Shanghai Daily more diligently on May 22 (or Shanghaiist on May 23) we would have known that 28 people had advanced in the Asia Eating Contest semifinal last week and that the finals were held yesterday. The runner-up in Japan's "Gluttonous Queen" contest, Iwata Miyuki, won first place in Shanghai, with a Hong Kong woman and Shanghai man taking second and third places, respectively. If you've got the stomach for it, you can check out Trencherwomen's video post of "Gluttonous Queen" to see what this is all about.

In twenty minutes of nonstop curry rice eating, Miyuki scarfed down 5,748 grams of food, while Jiang Yongwen of Hong Kong downed 3,796 grams, narrowly beating out Jin Yi at 3,772 grams. Despite not taking advantage of the home court advantage, Jin Yi's third place finish, while not ideal, nevertheless brought the motherland some glory. Some had doubted the former "sick man of Asia" could ever compete on the international level in such events, but like Liu Xiang and that snooker prodigy (forget his name) before him, Jin Yi has blazed a path that will be emulated by spoiled and fat Chinese kids at McDonald's all over the country. If only those 30 million people who died in the great Chinese famine of the late 1950s could see us now!

We're sure that wherever they are, in addition enjoying the eating contest, they might have spotted a huge, 5.5 meter diameter piece of Eight Treasures rice pudding on Nanjing Lu. Guangming, which makes a brand of Eight Treasures rice pudding, made the gigantic pudding for their 55th anniversary and also as a present to Shanghai on the occasion of the 57 year anniversary of its liberation from the Nationalist government, which was composed primarily of bastards that don't like good pudding. What we want to know is if the pudding was offered to the crowd, perhaps on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of communal kitchens?

Photo from Chinadaily.com.cn.