Them's eatin' words!

Just finished reading Jason Fagone's "Horsemen Of The Esophagus: Competitive Eating And The Big Fat American Dream". It came hot on the paperback heels of Ryan Nerz's "Eat This Book: A Year Of Gorging And Glory On The Competitive Eating Circuit".

Both give a good overview of the sport of gurgitation (that's without the "re"), focusing on the Nathan's Famous hotdog-eating contest in New York and the Wing Bowl in Philadelphia, while also covering various smaller competitions involving foodstuffs from asparagus (record: 2.835kg in 10 minutes) to watermelon (record: 6kg in 15 minutes).

Inside each you'll find profiles of all the major, nickname-worthy competitors, including including Eric "Badlands" Booker (subway conductor/rapper), David "Coondog" O'Karma (house painter), Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas (Burger King manager) and Tim "Eater X" Janus (stock market trader).

Both authors try and fail to deduce why world No. 1 Takeru Kobayashi - who stunned US gurgitators in 2001 when he destroyed the Nathan's Famous record, eating 50 'dogs in 12 minutes - is so much better than everyone else. (Though Californian rookie Joey Chestnut continues to narrow the gap.) Fagone does best to break down the cultural barriers and TK's reserve, if only for brief moments.

Science-wise, the two titles outline the facts about swallowing and digesting, plus the dangers involved. They reveal what gurgitators are known to do to maximise speed/capacity/recovery and speculate on what else they might do in secret. Both examine vomiting incidents and the "Belt Of Fat Theory" (a possible explanation for how petite Sonya can consistently out-scoff people three-four times her size).

The gorging "world" gets similar treatment in both books... There are the two federations - the big, businesslike International Federation Of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) and its upstart rival the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE). There are docos and TV shows. There are Internet sites spreading news, gossip and outright lies. There are hard-core fans and, yes, even groupies.

However, despite the almost identical subject matter of "Horsemen Of The Esophagus" and "Eat This Book", the former is the superior work. Fagone's writing is denser; unashamedly literate, thought-filled and provocative. His characters are more than just a series of quick sketches - they are constantly evolving, even if that means contradicting themselves or falling out of favour. Fagone is also unarguably the more impartial, agonising over a free T-shirt while Nerz runs IFOCE events and even tries his stomach at competing.

I don't want to totally dump on "Eat This Book" - it's an easily digested intro to a fascinating sport/way of life. It's just that following it up with "Horsemen" is like watching Kobayashi in '01. The competition's totally outclassed.