Joey Chestnut Ate 40 Pancakes in 10 Minutes and Set a World Record Like It Was Nothing

Joey Chestnut now holds the world record for eating pancakes. Forty pancakes. Ten minutes. That is four pancakes a minute, which is faster than most of us can decide what to order off a menu. He broke the previous record of 35, set by Geoff Esper at last year's inaugural contest, and did it at the World Pancake Eating Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia on September 26.

Here is the part that blows my mind: this was the first pancake eating contest of his entire 21-year career. Twenty-one years of demolishing hot dogs and wings and everything else with calories, and he had never once sat down for a competitive pancake. Then he shows up, eats forty of them, sets a record, and walks away with $2,500 from a $5,000 purse. This man has 55 world records. At this point I think he just points at a food and it becomes a record.

As a competitive eater myself, I have deep respect for the craft. People think it is just shoveling food in your face, but Chestnut talked before the contest about finding the perfect rhythm of breathing and biting, chewing and swallowing. That is an athlete talking. A very weird athlete, sure, but an athlete. Respect where respect is due. That man is cooked, and I mean that as the highest compliment I can give.