Horsemen of the Esophagus

In the book Horsemen of the Esophagus, the author Jason Fagone takes us through his journey into the world of competitive eating and the lives of some of its greatest eaters. These mega eaters join competitions such as the “Wing Bowl” or “Nathan’s Famous Forth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest” in hopes of becoming a champion eater. These contests are very popular and are broadcast on television or radio and many people go to watch the events in person. Some of the top eaters can make a lot of money just by chomping on food. But many people look at these contests as disgusting and horrifying because of how much food the competitors consume and how fast they consume it. However, eaters are proud of and passionate about their work and consider eating to be an art or a skill, and they are very talented.

Eating competitively can be viewed as a monstrous process where people eat volumes of food that are not meant to be eaten. Take Nathan’s hot dog competition and one of its contestants, Tskeru Kobayoshi, nicknamed Koby.  Koby is a 23-year-old Japanese, weighs only 100 pounds, and competes against guys twice his size. In this 12-minute contest, Koby ate an astounding 50 hot dogs to break the previous record and win first place. For a flimsy kid to eat so much can be described as animalistic; he is simply a freak. The way they eat is also obscene and really stretches what we think of these people. “Koby was eating his dogs with an inhumane ease,” the author writes. “Koby was separating the dog from the bun. What’s more, he was breaking each dog in half, then eating both halves at the same time, after which he dunked (in water) and ate the bun.” To eat hot dogs by turning the bun to mush and eating the meat whole is grotesque and no normal person would do such a thing.

Even though eating competitively is gross and freaky, eaters consider themselves very skilled and passionate people. Fans of the sport find it breathtaking to watch eaters go to work on different foods. “The eaters took eating seriously—they trained, they spent their money and time, risked their health and relationships,” the author explains. Eaters like to compare themselves with athletes, and don’t see themselves as monsters with wide stomachs. Fans get exited and amazed at how much food they can eat. Steve Addicks, a competitive eater himself, sat next to Koby in a hot dog competition with his mouth gaping because he was so amazed at his speed. “I was in awe. It was amazing. I was standing next to something that it’s like, ah, I don’t know—it was almost a religious experience, you know? Something that I was so close to see, that very few people will ever be able to witness, as far as the magnitude of what it meant to me as an eater.” Steve, watching Koby eat, felt like he was watching a miracle unfold. Big eating events have thousands of fans who are just as amazed at the spectacle.

Many people cannot stomach competitive eating and dismiss it as disgusting, while the eaters consider it serious and its fans are blown away by it. I think the process is repulsive, but if I were to attend something like the Nathan’s hot dog contest, I would probably be very excited and impressed by the eaters’ ability to consume so much so fast. Although I would never compare these guys to professional athletes, I think they are dedicated and skilled people who just have a job where they publicly become an animal with food. Eating competitions are rising in popularity, and maybe one day they’ll become like watching basketball or soccer.

Literary Essay

Many children in the world the world have difficulty socializing and making friends at or outside of school. Although some have intentionally chosen that path, others suffer from the loneliness of being a nobody and go through their school years without having people to talk to and help them out. The main character, Aaron, in the book Narc by Crissa-Jean Chappell is a perfect example of a pariah in high school. Early in the book, the police found Aaron’s 14-year-old sister with a bag of weed and he had to claim it was his to protect her. But the police agreed to drop his charges if he worked for them in uncovering the “shot caller,” or the head dealer in his drug-infested school, Palm Hammock. In order to do this, he had to find ways to get involved with other kids in his school and attend parties (18). In the process, Aaron is able to shake off his old, nobody self and meet people and go to parties. This shows that even a person with poor social skills like Aaron, with motivation and support from other people, can rise up from the bottom of the social scale and overcome their past loneliness.

Motivation is a key part in becoming socially active. In Aaron’s old life, he spent his free time alone at home playing video games and smoking. He never had nights out drinking with friends and didn’t pursue girls (pp. 247-248). But once his sister was found with weed, he had to act to keep himself and his sister out of deep trouble. “This is kind of serious. I could book her for possession of an illegal substance with intent to sell. Or you could go to jail,” said the cop who busted them. Aaron had great concern for his younger sister, Haylie, and told the officer: “I already told you. It’s mine. Please. Just leave her alone, she’s just a kid.” From then on, his concern for Haylie motivated him to carry out his mission, making friends and becoming involved in social activities (p. 14). Although Aaron didn’t have much of a choice, his sister still inspired him discard his old self and open up to people in his school. In the school library he talked to a popular girl named Morgan, whom he would later chat online with as well. After a detention class, he met with another girl nicknamed Skully. Although he originally talked to them for purposes of his mission, they would later become genuine friends. “Soon I was hanging out with Morgan and Skully every weekend,” he said (p. 339). Aaron was able to make friends because of the strong incentive of protecting his sister.

Something else that motivated Aaron to speak up was the well being of other people. Even early in the book, Aaron showed concern for Skully even though they had not even met yet. When a teacher took her phone away in detention, he stood up for her, saying, “I just don’t think his fair, taking away her phone.” Everyone in the room gawked and whispered. It wasn’t a long statement, but nonetheless it drew attention; Aaron had been heard by his peers (p. 22). That statement might have been important in the meeting of Skully and Aaron because they became friends later that day.

Another time Aaron was concerned about other people and was moved to speak up was when he was on Morgan’s Facebook page looking for information. He saw pictures of her bare arm crisscrossed with scars (p. 24). He later witnessed her self-mutilating herself in private. “I watched her lift up her skirt and drag the metal across the pale flesh of her inner thigh. She did this a couple more times, slow, careful strokes, then slipped the piece of metal in her sock.” After seeing this, he had a growing concern for Morgan for the rest of the book. He became Morgan’s friend right after the incident and would try to comfort her when her scars or something about the way she looked embarrassed her. Later, Morgan and Aaron were taking a swim when Morgan got out of the water, afraid to reveal the scars on her thigh. Seeing this, Aaron knew he had to comfort her. “Well, I can’t see much of anything right now. And besides, I don’t care. You’re hot, Morgan. Don’t you know that?” (pp. 368-369). He tried to raise her self-esteem to stop her from cutting herself by complimenting her. Being helpful to other people by talking to them is extra social behavior, and it was his concern for them that gave him the motivation.

Last, Aaron received support from other people that helped him to become more than a nobody. For example, when things in Aaron’s house were getting out of hand, he had to move out to keep his family safe. Luckily, Skully nicely took him in for quite a while. Living at Skully’s house was a perfect opportunity for Aaron to hang out with her as much as possible (pp. 339-340). It was then when Aaron started to do everything with Skully because he was her houseguest and got to hang out with Morgan on weekends, as Morgan and Skully were best friends. By helping out Aaron when he was in trouble, Skully also gave him an opportunity to socialize more than he ever had.

Another example of how Skully helped his social life was that she provided him opportunities to attend parties. Although it was mostly unintentional, Aaron would never have made it to a party without her. Skully had posted an event on her Facebook page, an open party invitation. It read “Bring snax, booze, whatever/whomever u want. Here’s the deal. I want to see ALL your beautiful faces” (p. 66). Aaron then had the chance for the biggest social feat of his life, go to a party, because of Skully’s invitation.

To summarize, Aaron started out as a social reject but through motivation that came from his care for other people and help from his new friend, he was able to fashion a new life with people to hang out with who also cared for him. Even though he had always had bad social skills, he pushed himself and realized talking to people wasn’t all that hard. For pariahs around the world, it’s important to give them plenty of support and motivation to come out of their shells. The character Aaron showed a perfect example of this process and has the ability to inspire people just like him.