Vegan Competitive Eating Hits Austin
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA 
on 06.20.08
Competitive Eating Goes Green?!
This might be the first time TreeHugger has written about competitive eating, and that’s no surprise really. The idea of stuffing down as much food as possible in as small amount of time as possible is about as un-TreeHugger as you can get in these days of food crisis and tortilla riots. But what if this most gluttonous of pastimes were used to promote a more planet-friendly diet? That seems to be the thinking behind Austin’s Veggie Dog Contest, where competitors will line up to help eat 1500 veggie dogs and 14 gallons of vegan ice cream:
“Contestants this year include last year's solo competitor champion, Colin "the Tim Duncan of competitive eating" Kalmbacher. Colin, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and vegan for six years says, "What is more Austin than a bunch of vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores, all alongside each other, gorging themselves on hundreds of soy dogs for the sheer insanity of it?"
While we are aware that vegan diets tend to be healthier for the planet (some say a low meat diet can be just as green) we’re still not entirely convinced by this orgy of excess (and processed soy). Having said that, it does look like participants had a lot of fun – and other events organized by the strangely titled ILoveMikeLitt group, from vegan arm wrestling to electric scooter giveaways certainly suggests their heart is in the right place. Whether the same can be said for their stomachs is another matter…
More on Vegan, Vegetarian and Low Meat Diets
Vegan Diets Healthier for the Planet
The Surprising Footprint of a Little Meat
the Carbon Footprint of a Burger
Portland Opens First Vegan Stripclub
::ILoveMikeLitt::via press release::
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Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Trust Stella McCartney: Meat-Free Mondays are Hip, not Hippie!
- Take it from a Beatle: Cut Your Carbon Footprint by Making Mondays Meat-Free
- Raw Food for the Rest of Us
- Eat a Vegetarian Diet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by a Ton
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"...this most glutinous of pastimes..."
I suspect you mean "gluttonous". Although I don't know, maybe they were seitan hotdogs, in which case you'd be right.
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Author's response:
LOL! Thanks - I'll change that immediately.
lmao. I have, say, 3 vegan friends, and I myself am vegetarian... But I don't think I could ever do that. I'm a pig, but that goes a little far for me.
Vegan Ice Cream is delicious. =)
Somehow I don't think adopting the worst practices of meat-eaters is the best way to promote healthy, cruelty-free eating.
For anyone who doesn't understand how Austinites can line up to partake in or watch something so ridiculous, just remember this very important fact : Austin is weird. Austin tries VERY hard to remain weird and true to it's rather hippie-ish past. This odd feast is just another way to "Keep Austin Weird!" as bumber stickers around here so often say.
I could never understand eating competitions, let alone why anyone would want to eat tons of veggie dogs.
I think the biggest challenge may be choking them down instead of overstuffing your belly
Sounds yummy! If you'd like to try this yourself you might find some places with vegan options at my site.