EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

Merrimack Valley

Andover man can't stomach eating contests

Courtney Paquette, staff writer
Published: October 2, 2007

A NDOVER — Something’s eating Paul MacInnis.

The 52-year-old Andover father of three, husband, Army veteran and book salesman can’t stand eating contests. He can’t stand them so much, he’s waging a one-man quest to ban them, starting with the world’s most popular one — the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest.

Why?

“On the one hand, we have an obesity problem that’s a public health time bomb. On the other hand, we have people going to bed hungry,” said MacInnis, sitting at his kitchen table and sipping a bottle of water. “Maybe this sends the wrong message.”

MacInnis isn’t the type of guy who usually gets involved in “these things,” he said. He said he can count on one hand the number of petitions he’s signed. He describes himself as “neither for nor against apathy.”

And this isn’t about promoting healthy eating, he said, it’s just about putting an end to something he sees as disgusting.

“This is gluttony glorified,” he said. “And that really bothers me.”

MacInnis has written executives at Nathan’s and called on them to stop holding the contest. He’s written to Wal-Mart and asked them to stop carrying Nathan’s hot dogs. He plans to do the same for DeMoulas, Stop and Shop, and Shaw’s supermarkets.

He knows it’ll be no cake-walk. He welcomes any help. Nathan’s hot-dog eating competition has been going on since 1916. It was canceled twice in its 92-year history — in 1941 to protest the war and in 1971 to protest civil unrest and the reign of free love, according to the competition’s Web site.

Nathan’s doesn’t think it’s doing anything wrong, according to George Shea of Shea Communications. The New York-based public relations firm represents the hot-dog eating contest and the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), the organization that regulates it.

“He’s picking a symbolic target,” Shea said of MacInnis. “His motivation is pure, but the direction of his anger is misguided. We are a sport and entertainment product.”

Shea said the quantity of food the IFOCE uses in a year is less than any all-you-can-eat buffet throws away in a week. Plus, they donate money, recently $50,000, to America’s Second Harvest, the largest hunger relief association in the United States.

And their eaters are slim, Shea said.

The IFOCE includes the world’s best competitive eaters, like Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi, who weighs 160 pounds and holds a record in Boston for eating 41 lobster rolls in 10 minutes. The world’s best female competitive eater is Virginia’s Sonya Thomas, who weighs 105 pounds and holds a record for eating 80 chicken nuggets in five minutes.

“Competitive eating is a sport. It does not in any way promote obesity,” Shea said. “To suggest that because we do 100 events a year with 15 people, we contribute to the obesity crisis is absurd. Our eaters are not obese. We are not promoting eating habits like we have in the contests.”

MacInnis doesn’t buy that.

“What if Budweiser or Jack Daniel’s had a contest?” he asked. “How about eat responsibly. Eat in moderation. What a novel idea.”

After he stops the Nathan’s contest, he said he’ll move to ban all professional competitive eating.

He has the option of introducing a bill to the Massachusetts Legislature — which he’d have to do by January. Andover Town Clerk Randy Hanson said it wouldn’t be possible to ban competitive eating locally because the Board of Selectmen would have no authority to uphold such a ruling, even if it were voted in at town meeting.

But one thing’s for sure: MacInnis is one tough cookie, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes.

“I will not be ignored,” he said. “I will become such a pain in the neck to these people. I may be on a fool’s errand here, but I’m not going to let it go.”

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