​Hot dog math: enough to give you the ‘urge contrary to swallowing’

By Sabrina Hornung

sabrina@hpr1.com

On July fourth, Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest took place at Coney Island. The winners, Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo, reigned victorious. Chestnut earned his 17th title by consuming 70.5 hotdogs and buns, his previous record being 76 set in 2021. Sudo earned her 11th title by ingesting 31 hot dogs, her previous record being 51.

What’s more American than celebrating how many hotdogs a guy can stuff in his mouth while over 50 million Americans turn to food banks or food pantries to stay fed? According to feedingamerica.org, in North Dakota alone, 77,880 people are facing hunger; 24,510 of that number are children. And we’re supposed to be the “breadbasket of the world.”

This is all food for thought, especially considering Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which will reduce nutrition funding (including SNAP, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), by approximately $186 billion between 2025 and 2034. According to the USDA, in March 2025 more than 42 million Americans utilized SNAP. To put that number in perspective, the entire population of the State of California is 39.5 million.

Why is food so expensive? War is one factor. Russia and Ukraine are huge ag exporters and also provide raw materials such as fertilizer used in food production worldwide. Bird flu is still a concern affecting eggs and poultry. Corporate greed is another factor, I mean how else could Jeff Bezos afford that $50 million wedding? Add supply chain disruptions and we’re over here cheering on a guy who can eat a year’s worth of hot dogs in a single setting, if you’re going by The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council’s numbers. (It’s actually a thing — trust me).

Granted, there are eating contests all over the world. This isn’t a new phenomenon nor is it something strictly American. I’m just picking on this one because of the timing.

According to a recent article from frontofficesports.com, 800 hot dogs with buns (soaked in water so they’d go down easier) were prepared for the men’s contest (which had 15 competitors), and 350 for the women’s competition featuring 14 competitors. That’s total of 1,150 hot dogs for the competitors. Condiments were available, but generally not used, because let’s be real — that would just take too much time and space. According to “Food & Wine’s” cookout math, two hot dogs per person would be an adequate meal portion. With that math, 575 people would be fed by the hot dog eating contest That’s close to the entire population of Slope County.

My favorite part about the hot dog eating contest is that “vomit” is a dirty word. George Shea, who has been the announcer for Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest since 1991, prefers the term “urges contrary to swallowing.” Apparently the term “vomit” is seen as kind of a jinx, and I’m a sucker for tales of superstition.

Frankly, I prefer the term “barf.” But I digress…

Let’s think about these hotdogs in terms of wealth — as in, think of these dogs as dollars. We’ll use a little “hot dog math.” A total of 575 folks would be fed (if we stick to the two hotdog average) when there are 1,150 hot dogs prepared. But instead, all of those hot dogs are prepared for 29 contestants. If divided evenly, that’s over 39.5 hot dogs apiece — which is over half a year’s hot dog consumption for the average American. That is more hot dogs than any of these people need and more than their bodies should even handle in a single sitting. Here they gorge themselves to see how many they can choke down (and keep down) and the scraps are left to the dogs.

This is how Jeff Bezos barely blinked an eye at the cost of that $50 million dollar wedding, while the average Amazon employee gets scraps and makes just under $40,000 a year. I guess that’s what happens when you have all the hotdogs.

We’re picking on Bezos because of the timing and because of the news cycle. We all know there are plenty of other examples.

If that’s not the state of America in not only a nutshell, but in a soggy hotdog bun, I don’t know what is. If you can think of a better analogy, I’d love to hear it. It’s enough to give one the “urge contrary to swallowing.”