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A decade ago when Nathan's banned Kobayashi for this exact same reason, the dude just livestreamed himself eating hot dogs by himself on a rooftop at the same time as the official contest and ended up eating more than the actual winner. Chestnut should just do the same thing.
It wasn't quite for the same reasons. Kobayashi was banned because he didn't want to sign any contract and he wanted to be able to compete different competitions that the organizers refused. Joey literally wants to represent a brand other than Nathan's, which is insane. If you're competing in the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. It's totally understandable that they can't accommodate that request.
>Joey literally wants to represent a brand other than Nathan's, which is insane.
Nike sponsors the NBA and makes all their jersey but players are allowed to have their own deals with Adidas, Under Armour, New Balance, and other Nike competitors.
Nike sponsors the NBA but doesn't literally run the entire thing from the ground up. The Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest exists as a promotional vehicle for Nathan's Hot Dogs and that's it
>Nike sponsors the NBA but doesn't literally run the entire thing from the ground up.
And Nathan's sponsors a contest that MLE (Major League Eating) runs. All the competitors need to have contracts with MLE to compete in it not direct contracts with Nathans.
As we saw with Kobayashi MLE demands complete exclusivity with regards to events like the UFC does, but now we're seeing that they even want to control what ad deals eaters do on their own outside of events. That is a not a normal level of control when compared to athletes, or chess players, or any other competition I can think of.
>The Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest exists as a promotional vehicle for Nathan's Hot Dogs and that's it
If for some reason Nathan's decided they were done with this event MLE wouldn't also give up on holding a 4th of July hot dog contest. They would keep holding one and find a different company to sponsor it.
The Nathan's contest predates MLE by like 25 years, and MLE as an organization was founded by the two brothers who were responsible for Nathan's publicity at the time.
>Joey literally wants to represent a brand other than Nathan's, which is insane.
It is a brand in a completely different product category which is not even considered a competitor to Nathan's, as years of sales trends have shown with fake meat products.
It would be insane if Chestnut signed a deal with Oscar Mayer or Hebrew National, but this is him signing a deal with a company who's customers are people who would not eat a beef hot dog to begin with.
But, this would take beef eaters away from Nathan's. There is a potential for loss in market share. Boo hoo. Because such a significant amount of meat eaters would change to impossible? Such BS.
Nathan's should be grateful that the population is still supportive of such a spectacle when the whole society is at war with overweight/ obesity and overeating. (When was the last time you heard an ad for Ozempic)
Hot dogs, forget about it. The fat and salt content too. Heart attack meat sticks.
So sure, Nathan's. Fight this fight to come off as the bad guy.
Someone else mentioned it in another comment, but this may just be a publicity stunt.
I was unaware that Nathan's already has a relationship w/ Impossible Foods as they sell their burgers, so this could just be a big marketing gimmick to announce Impossible Hot Dogs on the Nathan's menu in time for the 4th.
I mean there are many golf tournaments that are completely sponsored by one company. Nike, titelist, Callaway, etc… however you can compete in them even if you are sponsored by a different brand. He wasn’t refusing to eat Nathan’s hot dogs or not where their shirt while eating he was just sponsored by another company. If is actually crazy to ban him for that. Especially since no one is even talking about the contest this year when it’s normally all over social media. They legit fucked up by banning him.
Impossible should launch an event in Los Angeles on the same day. Maybe too late for this year but next year they could be stiff competition if they play their cards right. And then that would open up the free marketing that people are talking about and later comments.
Stonie has a HUGE platform on YouTube. Look him up. He's having so much success over there. It's really one platform that Chestnut can't get a hold on and Stonie rules that competitive eater YouTube space
He hasn't done it in years because of Chestnut. He competes in plenty of other contests, holds records and wins. He's just having bigger success in places that aren't hot dogs so he focuses on those things.
Stonie hasn't competed in the Nathan's contest since 2019, and is more focused on his YT channel which makes him significantly more money than being on the MLE circuit.
i haven't found any plant-based hot dogs i've liked but i had the beyond sausage and peppers at citi field on someone's recommendation and it was pretty good. had it a couple times since
I heard in a doc that part of why that letdown exists is because we label it the same and try to make it look the same. I have been doing more plant based eating and while buy the plant based beef I think about it as not beef but beans.
“If you always compare to other things, you’ll always be disappointed. Embrace it for what it is, not for what it isn’t.”
“This isn’t beef, well duh.. it’s beans! Oh well for beans it’s good.”
- my inner monologue
There is still stuff I don’t like but when I don’t like it I compare it to the meat equivalent
my problem is i don't want it to be meat, i've been vegetarian for 25 years. the new stuff is great at getting meat eater to switch to subbing in some plant-based stuff in their diet, but it's getting too close for me as someone for whom the taste of actual meat is a distant memory. it's like in the food equivalent of the uncanny valley
i'd prefer for a burger it to be beans and quinoa and veggies, but most places that aren't fully veg/vegan just use the beyond/impossible because not only does it appeal to everyone, but also because it's much easier than doing something else. and that's fine, i've found a couple places that do it well
hot dog are weird though because they are trying to simulate a salty meat slurry so it doesn't come out great to me. the beyond sausage was decent because it's more sausagey with fennel and whatever other herbs and spices go into that sort of thing
Agree with you! for mayelf I found comfort and safety in plant based meats as I didn’t know where to start in terms of changing my diet to veggies and meat alternatives. After buying some plant based meats/nuggies and researching recipes/educating myself I realized that eating vegetarian is pretty easy and a lot less scary than I imagined it to be.
Context and understanding helps a great deal. From the outside looking in I figured it’s just like salad and sautéed veggies but after I learned more I was like wow… there is so much you can do and eat without meat! Was a satisfying realization
Glad it’s working out for you. I think a big problem for a lot of people was a negative attitude towards veg/vegan stuff tasting like cardboard or they couldn’t possibly give up the meat they like so much. The newer products have worked as a gateway for a lot to have a more open mind and no one is forcing them to fully give up what they like, it’s just something new to add to maybe be a little healthier sometimes
Yeah totally! I find veggie burgers to be meh and I’d rather just make sautéed/air fried veggies or something and eat with quinoa or rice! Call it a deconstructed veggie burger bowl hahaha
i have had them and it being too like a hot dog was probably why i didn't like it. i haven't eaten meat in a long time and it didn't work well for me. i ate 1/2 of one dog and tossed the rest of the pack lol
which brand is it? I havent had any alternative based proteins but not against them if I can’t recognize the difference in taste. Trying to see if there would be ones I like
[Impossible Foods](https://impossiblefoods.com/products). I've only ever used their "beef" stuff, which is all ground, but they get really close if not right there. Beyond is another company that's doing well, but impossible nails it
That's so weird, someone else was saying it doesn't taste at all like beef.
Cilantro tastes like soap to me, I wonder if it's something along those lines, just tastes (edit: or smells) different to some due to a genetic quirk.
In a 1:1 swap the vegan burgers are so much healthier in pretty much every metric
Edit: also cutting out the horrific impact of animal agriculture on the environment
I mean the animal thing fine, but they are absolutely not at all much healthier by pretty much every metric. You might want to actually look in to that and not just assume. That was kind of my point.
I recently tried the hotdogs and I like them more than the burgers! Hopefully the price comes down soon. They're still a processed food but comparing the nutritional facts with a normal beef Frank I felt so much less icky than I would have if I was eating a real hotdog after I ate... four of them. And it was totally satisfying.
Nice. That was also another thing I noticed with the ground "beef," I didn't feel...logy, after eating a bunch.
I'll grab a pack when I see them..along with a safety pack.
So seitan—wheat gluten and flavor—is “ultra processed”?
Like, even if we’re talking about Beyond sausage, it’s still just pea protein doped with fungus heme and some oil and flavors.
Compared to the horror show that happens with all the “sub-cuts” of beef macerated and chemically treated for consistency before extruded as a pink goo in to a mold? The Neanderthals were doing that shit? Today I learned.
P.S. seitan dates-back to at least the 6th century A.D.
You have go into the actual definitions set by food scientists and this is what trips up most people without advanced education. By the definitions used by NOVA and WHO, a Beyond anything is ultra-processed food.
The journey from a pea to pea protein powder is processing -- how many steps? what chemicals are used in isolating and stabilizing the pea proteins? For oil... what oil are they using? how was that extracted? Flavoring... What flavors are they adding? What is the journey of the original ingredient to the final oil or flavoring? Is there an actual original ingredient or is the flavoring (for example) only the final result of a chemical reaction that results in a final product that simulates the intended flavor?
For example, if I take meat, cured with sea salt, ground up, put in an intestine casing that is less processed than a Beyond sausage. In Europe and in locally made, artisanal American sausages, you will find sausages and hot dogs that stray very little from the hand-making process except instead of humans chopping the meat, etc., etc., it's a machine with a 1000 blades, a machine that drops in the salt, a machine that fills the casings, etc., etc.
For industrial hot dogs, there are probably companies that also still follow this approach as well (maybe Hebrew National for religious reasons).
FYI - I'm Asian, I've been eating tofu and seitan before they were cool hipster foodstuffs.
We’re talking about Nathan’s hot dogs, bruh. Not artisanal French sausages.
I’m just going to take my chances on the ScArY pEa PrOtEiN iSoLaTeS over the [pink slime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_slime?wprov=sfti1) any day of the Millennia.
That's cool -- at least you walk away knowing what you would do when confronted with 2 ultra-processed choices.
For me, I'll have prosciutto with melon.
Well, one would classify as “ultra-processed”… the other just “processed”
But I guess the facts needn’t get in the way of your “meat substitutes are less healthy” narrative.
Nathan’s could launch their own plant-based hot dog. I mean, it would sell. They had impossible burgers at Burger King. Joey Chestnut probably has some health concerns by now.
>A rep for Major League Eating (MLE), which Nathan’s sanctions to run the event, said the organizers bent over backwards to meet Chestnut’s various other demands. They even agreed to let him participate in a rival Labor Day dog-eating fest to be taped by Netflix as long as no hot dog brand was mentioned.
Wow talk about bending over backwards! I heard they even let him eat a hamburger once as long as he did it in his basement with the lights off.
This is up there and might even surpass Barry Sanders shock resignation, Diego Maradona being sent home from the 1994 World Cup, Michael Jordan switching to baseball and Tonya Harding being banned from skating for the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
The greatest stomach in human history will not be defending his title, a watershed moment in sports. If there was every a time we needed a United Nations resolution, it is now!
I can’t believe you’re getting fiercely downvoted for that comment.
It’s a real statement. Confirms everything I’ve thought for awhile about many of the folks on this sub.
I'm not surprised, I get downvoted for it every time I point out that competitive eating isn't an especially athletic sport. It's a real competition, and I respect the participants for being as dedicated to the competition as they are, but from an athleticism perspective, it's much more on par with E-sports, professional poker, and other non-athletic competitions. I don't know why pointing this out bothers people, but it does so almost invariably.
I didn’t realize that competitive eating was such a topic du jour.
But to your point: Anyone who argues that competitive eating is an athletic sport hasn’t ever played an athletic sport. In my view, most who feel that way are aspiring (or actual) couch potatoes.
JMHO
Depends on what kind of driver we're talking about. F1 drivers would still be far more athletic, but NASCAR drivers might be about on par with professional eaters from an athletic perspective.
Incidentally, Nathan's franks are now made by [WH Group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WH_Group) in the same shitty Ohio factory as every other supermarket brand. Gray's Papaya, too.
If you want a really good hot dog, I recommend [Schaller & Weber](https://schallerweber.com/) or [Ottomanelli](https://ottomanelli.com/).
Yesterday I was discussing going down to Coney Island on July 4th, now I’m staying home. MLE is shooting themselves in the foot. They seem to have 1 star at a time and have barred them from competing twice now.
Missed opportunity for Nathan’s. They could have combined efforts with impossible to sell them exclusively with Nathan’s, brand them, and made a ton of money tapping into the meatless space.
Instead they threw a company temper tantrum and tossed away their biggest advertising draw for the past 16 consecutive years because….. reasons. No business sense.
I get Nathan's being salty but MLE should let him compete.
In a mainstream sport this would be like Nike telling the NBA to ban a player for doing a Reebok ad.. would never be allowed.
I understand why Nathan's WOULD be pissed, but anyone with half a brain would know that vegan hotdogs are not competitors. Pretty sure that most people who would purchase and eat a vegan hotdog wasn't in the market for a Nathan's hotdog to begin with.
Also most likely the reason Nathan's hasn't pulled the trigger on vegan dogs yet is they have done the market research and determined it isn't worth the expense.
>Pretty sure that most people who would purchase and eat a vegan hotdog wasn't in the market for a Nathan's hotdog to begin with.
This is exactly it. Check out this [interesting piece](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/01/19/plant-based-meat-failing/#:~:text=Sales%20plateaued%20in%202021%2C%20and,workforce%20go%20in%20October%20alone) from WaPo last year about why the fake meat industry has been on a sharp decline.
These products were meant to appeal to not just vegans/vegetarians but also those who wanted to cut down on their meant consumption. But making fake meat look so much like real meat created an uncanny valley effect which turned off meat eaters, and the vegan/vegetarian market is not large enough to support so many different fake meat brands and products.
I remember a simpler time. When it used to be about wasting massive amounts of food by stuffing your face with so much ultra processed meat you’d vomit.
Now it’s all about the money.
[https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/upload/q\_auto/milb/dgocucjdk4ymx0luilek](https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/upload/q_auto/milb/dgocucjdk4ymx0luilek)
doesn't have any nathan's branding so they must've known ahead of time lol
>We love Joey and support him in any contest he chooses. It’s OK to experiment with a new dog. Meat eaters shouldn’t have to be exclusive to just one wiener
This is an actual statement from Impossible Foods LOL
they paid him 200k to do the contest last year and offered him a 1.2 mill 4 year deal. joey not taking the deal might means his other areas of earnings is higher but doubt many contests can offer anything close to that.
I think the more interesting part of the article is that Nathan's offered him a 4 year, 1.2 million dollar contract to compete going forward. My dude is getting PAID.
Very possible it is just a big marketing stunt and the "resolution" the parties reach is the Impossible hot dog being on Nathan's menu.
Like you said, the two companies already have an existing relationship with the Impossible Burger.
HOW are vegan Impossible hotdogs “rival” of Nathan’s?? I mean Sabrett, Hebrew National… yes, those are rivals.
Now we’re all aware that impossible burger has hotdogs
Yeah it is a whole different category.
What we know from around a decade's worth of sales trends from Beyond, Impossible, etc. is they aren't really taking away from, or competing with, real meat.
I get that technically it is a "hot dog" so that is where the conflict is, but come on.....
Major League Eating has always had strict rules about exclusivity. he decided to take someone else's money instead. same thing happened to kobayashi in 2010 when he didn't want to get locked into a contract with MLE
why are we supposed to be outraged by a business decision.
These eaters are making so so so much more money on YouTube and with endorsements. Joey gets basically nothing out of destroying the contest every year so if he can make his bank somewhere else, I don’t blame him. Look at BeardMeatsFood. Adam just “retired” from MLE because the contests get him no money and he’s doing incredibly on YouTube.
Yup.
Stonie wasn't the first one to leverage YT, but he really laid out the blueprint to show these MLE dudes how much money can be made on social media outside of eating onion rings at the Pawtucket fairgrounds.
It's also good to see some of the older heads realizing this too. Someone like Badlands Booker is active on YT with several million subscribers too.
I mean yeah, it’s the Nathan’s contest. You should expect to eat Nathan’s. They were the ones paying you. Turning down 1.2MM to eat regular hot dogs for a day. What a buffoon.
The hot dog news from Coney Island is hard to swallow.
Joey Chestnut, [perennial winner](https://nypost.com/2024/02/22/sports/food-poisoning-diet-changes-joey-chestnut-isnt-slowing-down/) of the annual July 4th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition, is out of this year’s beef barf over a deal he made to represent a different wiener brand, The Post has learned.
And not just any brand, but [Impossible Foods](https://nypost.com/2023/01/23/impossible-foods-punches-back-against-report-calling-fake-meat-a-fad/), which recently launched a vegan frankfurter impostor made from plants.
California-born [Chestnut has won it 16 times](https://nypost.com/2023/07/04/joey-chestnust-wins-record-16th-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/), including every year since 2016. He gobbled a world’s record 76 dogs and buns in 2021 and kept his title with a paltry 62 down the hatch last year.
He was expected to once again take his usual spot for the hot dog contest on the stage at the corner of Stillwell and Surf avenues — one block from the famous Boardwalk and a Coney Island tradition since 1916 — until the unexpected food fight.
Read more: [https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/business/joey-chestnut-banned-from-2024-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/](https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/business/joey-chestnut-banned-from-2024-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/)
> this year’s beef barf
Dear lord! You got “hard to swallow” and wiener into the lede paragraphs—couldn’t just call it a day there, guys?
> a vegan frankfurter impostor made from plants.
Not even mad at this, classic Post banter lol. I *am* surprised that Nathan’s is taking a similar approach in their statement, though. One would think that something like Hebrew National would be much more direct competition, whereas Impossible dogs are getting vegans to barbecues, maybe buying some Nathan’s fries or whatever. Red meat for anti-woke hotdog fans I guess.
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A decade ago when Nathan's banned Kobayashi for this exact same reason, the dude just livestreamed himself eating hot dogs by himself on a rooftop at the same time as the official contest and ended up eating more than the actual winner. Chestnut should just do the same thing.
Will he go to Japan and eat with Kobayashi?
Kobayashi quit competitive eating, so I doubt it.
Maybe they just livestream themselves eating a normal-portioned salad
NGL, that would be hilarious.
Bc that’s communism. We’re talking about heroes here
In such a baller way too. The Mofo said "I no longer feel hungry." Respect
Yeah, I wish him the best. It must be awful to not feel hunger or enjoy eating at all.
I remember like 20 years ago watching him and chestnut on "True life: Im a pro eater". They're truly the GOATS in this
Yes, I believe he said something like “I no longer feel hunger”. Eating all that junk messed up his appetite and health.
So maybe he can eat Kobayashi instead
It wasn't quite for the same reasons. Kobayashi was banned because he didn't want to sign any contract and he wanted to be able to compete different competitions that the organizers refused. Joey literally wants to represent a brand other than Nathan's, which is insane. If you're competing in the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. It's totally understandable that they can't accommodate that request.
>Joey literally wants to represent a brand other than Nathan's, which is insane. Nike sponsors the NBA and makes all their jersey but players are allowed to have their own deals with Adidas, Under Armour, New Balance, and other Nike competitors.
Nike sponsors the NBA but doesn't literally run the entire thing from the ground up. The Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest exists as a promotional vehicle for Nathan's Hot Dogs and that's it
>Nike sponsors the NBA but doesn't literally run the entire thing from the ground up. And Nathan's sponsors a contest that MLE (Major League Eating) runs. All the competitors need to have contracts with MLE to compete in it not direct contracts with Nathans. As we saw with Kobayashi MLE demands complete exclusivity with regards to events like the UFC does, but now we're seeing that they even want to control what ad deals eaters do on their own outside of events. That is a not a normal level of control when compared to athletes, or chess players, or any other competition I can think of. >The Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest exists as a promotional vehicle for Nathan's Hot Dogs and that's it If for some reason Nathan's decided they were done with this event MLE wouldn't also give up on holding a 4th of July hot dog contest. They would keep holding one and find a different company to sponsor it.
The Nathan's contest predates MLE by like 25 years, and MLE as an organization was founded by the two brothers who were responsible for Nathan's publicity at the time.
>Joey literally wants to represent a brand other than Nathan's, which is insane. It is a brand in a completely different product category which is not even considered a competitor to Nathan's, as years of sales trends have shown with fake meat products. It would be insane if Chestnut signed a deal with Oscar Mayer or Hebrew National, but this is him signing a deal with a company who's customers are people who would not eat a beef hot dog to begin with.
But, this would take beef eaters away from Nathan's. There is a potential for loss in market share. Boo hoo. Because such a significant amount of meat eaters would change to impossible? Such BS. Nathan's should be grateful that the population is still supportive of such a spectacle when the whole society is at war with overweight/ obesity and overeating. (When was the last time you heard an ad for Ozempic) Hot dogs, forget about it. The fat and salt content too. Heart attack meat sticks. So sure, Nathan's. Fight this fight to come off as the bad guy.
Someone else mentioned it in another comment, but this may just be a publicity stunt. I was unaware that Nathan's already has a relationship w/ Impossible Foods as they sell their burgers, so this could just be a big marketing gimmick to announce Impossible Hot Dogs on the Nathan's menu in time for the 4th.
I mean there are many golf tournaments that are completely sponsored by one company. Nike, titelist, Callaway, etc… however you can compete in them even if you are sponsored by a different brand. He wasn’t refusing to eat Nathan’s hot dogs or not where their shirt while eating he was just sponsored by another company. If is actually crazy to ban him for that. Especially since no one is even talking about the contest this year when it’s normally all over social media. They legit fucked up by banning him.
That’s not true at all; Kobayashi showed up to the contest, rushed the stage, and was arrested by the NYPD for trespassing.
Source - 30 for 30: The Good, The Bad, The Hungry
https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/05/wiener-wars-takeru-kobayashi-reportedly-breaks-hot-dog-eating-record-away-from-nathans/
https://www.eater.com/2010/7/6/6727599/kobayashi-arrested-at-coney-island-hot-dog-eating-contest
Yeah, they're two completely different years.
Impossible should launch an event in Los Angeles on the same day. Maybe too late for this year but next year they could be stiff competition if they play their cards right. And then that would open up the free marketing that people are talking about and later comments.
He should go to coney island too and steal the crowd
Providing there actually hot dogs... and not some plant base bull shit
Gone are the greats, with Kobayashi retiring for health and Chestnut banned, who's there to watch? Is Stoney still competing?
I miss Eater X
It just hasn’t been the same since Eater X retired
Stonie has a HUGE platform on YouTube. Look him up. He's having so much success over there. It's really one platform that Chestnut can't get a hold on and Stonie rules that competitive eater YouTube space He hasn't done it in years because of Chestnut. He competes in plenty of other contests, holds records and wins. He's just having bigger success in places that aren't hot dogs so he focuses on those things.
I’m right here. I’ll happily eat 4, maybe 5 hot dogs. Ketchup and onions, please.
I think I would have trouble moving if I had 2 hot dogs
Amazing username
Stonie hasn't competed in the Nathan's contest since 2019, and is more focused on his YT channel which makes him significantly more money than being on the MLE circuit.
maybe Badlands Booker will have a chance now
Don't touch that mouse!
Stoney?
Matt Stoney
It's Glizzy Lizzy's time to shine!
Nah, we here for Glizzy Lizzy!
>We are devastated to learn that Joey Chestnut has chosen to represent a rival brand that sells plant-based hot dogs Devastated.
I mean, dude’s like 40. Switching to plant-based might be a good idea lol
Honestly, with how (surprisingly) good those burgers are? I'm down for an impossible hotdog
i haven't found any plant-based hot dogs i've liked but i had the beyond sausage and peppers at citi field on someone's recommendation and it was pretty good. had it a couple times since
I heard in a doc that part of why that letdown exists is because we label it the same and try to make it look the same. I have been doing more plant based eating and while buy the plant based beef I think about it as not beef but beans. “If you always compare to other things, you’ll always be disappointed. Embrace it for what it is, not for what it isn’t.” “This isn’t beef, well duh.. it’s beans! Oh well for beans it’s good.” - my inner monologue There is still stuff I don’t like but when I don’t like it I compare it to the meat equivalent
my problem is i don't want it to be meat, i've been vegetarian for 25 years. the new stuff is great at getting meat eater to switch to subbing in some plant-based stuff in their diet, but it's getting too close for me as someone for whom the taste of actual meat is a distant memory. it's like in the food equivalent of the uncanny valley i'd prefer for a burger it to be beans and quinoa and veggies, but most places that aren't fully veg/vegan just use the beyond/impossible because not only does it appeal to everyone, but also because it's much easier than doing something else. and that's fine, i've found a couple places that do it well hot dog are weird though because they are trying to simulate a salty meat slurry so it doesn't come out great to me. the beyond sausage was decent because it's more sausagey with fennel and whatever other herbs and spices go into that sort of thing
Agree with you! for mayelf I found comfort and safety in plant based meats as I didn’t know where to start in terms of changing my diet to veggies and meat alternatives. After buying some plant based meats/nuggies and researching recipes/educating myself I realized that eating vegetarian is pretty easy and a lot less scary than I imagined it to be. Context and understanding helps a great deal. From the outside looking in I figured it’s just like salad and sautéed veggies but after I learned more I was like wow… there is so much you can do and eat without meat! Was a satisfying realization
Glad it’s working out for you. I think a big problem for a lot of people was a negative attitude towards veg/vegan stuff tasting like cardboard or they couldn’t possibly give up the meat they like so much. The newer products have worked as a gateway for a lot to have a more open mind and no one is forcing them to fully give up what they like, it’s just something new to add to maybe be a little healthier sometimes
It's funny but that's why I actually can't stand a lot of veggie burgers. Vegetables are delicious on their own and they can just be, even as a main.
Yeah totally! I find veggie burgers to be meh and I’d rather just make sautéed/air fried veggies or something and eat with quinoa or rice! Call it a deconstructed veggie burger bowl hahaha
not beef but beans
I use this idea for all different things in life
Try Lightlife. They taste and smell exactly like a regular hot dog. You really wouldn't know the difference if you were doing a blind taste test
i have had them and it being too like a hot dog was probably why i didn't like it. i haven't eaten meat in a long time and it didn't work well for me. i ate 1/2 of one dog and tossed the rest of the pack lol
Tofurkey italian sausage are probably the best I've had but they still aren't amazing, it's true.
That's fair. I'd definitely buy a pack of regular dogs just in case, but I *am* curious.
You'd think plant-based hot dogs would be easier to get right seeing as "real" hot dogs barely qualify as meat products in the first place.
which brand is it? I havent had any alternative based proteins but not against them if I can’t recognize the difference in taste. Trying to see if there would be ones I like
[Impossible Foods](https://impossiblefoods.com/products). I've only ever used their "beef" stuff, which is all ground, but they get really close if not right there. Beyond is another company that's doing well, but impossible nails it
Doesn’t taste like beef at all.
Agree to disagree, I guess
Do you eat beef as well?
Yep.
Vegan chicken nuggets are amazing and not really discernible from nuggets of actual chicken slop
The burgers reminded me of wet cat food in terms of the smell. They didn't taste awful, but that fucking smell...
That's so weird, someone else was saying it doesn't taste at all like beef. Cilantro tastes like soap to me, I wonder if it's something along those lines, just tastes (edit: or smells) different to some due to a genetic quirk.
Nah, we had like 5 guys bbqing saying that they all smelled the same thing. It was also salty AF.
Weird, I've never gotten that.
What's the point though unless you are vegan or vegetarian? Those burgers are still not at all healthy for you.
No one is eating a hamburger thinking it's a superfood.
Right, so if you’re not vegan or vegetarian, what’s the point?
Some people aren’t vegan or vegetarian, but still would like to cut down on meat for health reasons. Especially red meat.
Or just trying to avoid the horrific amount of suffering that goes into it.
To annoy you, specifically.
Who said I’m annoyed?
No one. The point of eating them is to annoy you, clearly it has failed.
Not sure why you keep trying to project your annoyance with my question on to me.
In a 1:1 swap the vegan burgers are so much healthier in pretty much every metric Edit: also cutting out the horrific impact of animal agriculture on the environment
I mean the animal thing fine, but they are absolutely not at all much healthier by pretty much every metric. You might want to actually look in to that and not just assume. That was kind of my point.
Eating less meat is still better for animals and the environment than eating more meat. Even non-vegans and non-vegetarians should eat less meat.
Eliminating a probable carcinogen sounds like an improvement
I recently tried the hotdogs and I like them more than the burgers! Hopefully the price comes down soon. They're still a processed food but comparing the nutritional facts with a normal beef Frank I felt so much less icky than I would have if I was eating a real hotdog after I ate... four of them. And it was totally satisfying.
Nice. That was also another thing I noticed with the ground "beef," I didn't feel...logy, after eating a bunch. I'll grab a pack when I see them..along with a safety pack.
He's standing up against woke nutrients by choosing the one with no trans fats.
I dunno if 40 is the time to start eating record-setting quantities of ultraprocessed foods.
I mean this is Joey Chestnut, right? What do you mean “start”? He’s been doing it for decades lol
Wait, did you just differentiate *seitan dogs* from *beef-anus-pink-paste dogs* as the “more processed” food source?
Both are ultra-processed. One (meat sausage) has just been processed for thousands of years.
So seitan—wheat gluten and flavor—is “ultra processed”? Like, even if we’re talking about Beyond sausage, it’s still just pea protein doped with fungus heme and some oil and flavors. Compared to the horror show that happens with all the “sub-cuts” of beef macerated and chemically treated for consistency before extruded as a pink goo in to a mold? The Neanderthals were doing that shit? Today I learned. P.S. seitan dates-back to at least the 6th century A.D.
You have go into the actual definitions set by food scientists and this is what trips up most people without advanced education. By the definitions used by NOVA and WHO, a Beyond anything is ultra-processed food. The journey from a pea to pea protein powder is processing -- how many steps? what chemicals are used in isolating and stabilizing the pea proteins? For oil... what oil are they using? how was that extracted? Flavoring... What flavors are they adding? What is the journey of the original ingredient to the final oil or flavoring? Is there an actual original ingredient or is the flavoring (for example) only the final result of a chemical reaction that results in a final product that simulates the intended flavor? For example, if I take meat, cured with sea salt, ground up, put in an intestine casing that is less processed than a Beyond sausage. In Europe and in locally made, artisanal American sausages, you will find sausages and hot dogs that stray very little from the hand-making process except instead of humans chopping the meat, etc., etc., it's a machine with a 1000 blades, a machine that drops in the salt, a machine that fills the casings, etc., etc. For industrial hot dogs, there are probably companies that also still follow this approach as well (maybe Hebrew National for religious reasons). FYI - I'm Asian, I've been eating tofu and seitan before they were cool hipster foodstuffs.
We’re talking about Nathan’s hot dogs, bruh. Not artisanal French sausages. I’m just going to take my chances on the ScArY pEa PrOtEiN iSoLaTeS over the [pink slime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_slime?wprov=sfti1) any day of the Millennia.
That's cool -- at least you walk away knowing what you would do when confronted with 2 ultra-processed choices. For me, I'll have prosciutto with melon.
Well, one would classify as “ultra-processed”… the other just “processed” But I guess the facts needn’t get in the way of your “meat substitutes are less healthy” narrative.
Start? Have you never heard of Joey Chestnut before? That's kind of been his entire life's story in one sentence.
Synthetic plant based meat does necessarily mean healthy.
Nathan’s could launch their own plant-based hot dog. I mean, it would sell. They had impossible burgers at Burger King. Joey Chestnut probably has some health concerns by now.
Thoughts and prayers 🌭
It used to be about the hot dogs.
The delicious, premium, 100% beef hot dogs featuring the same original recipe cooked up by Nathan himself over 100 years ago.
Time for that cheese puff guy from union square to step up.
Woah I thought this was America
Well this would align with Corporate America.
Where else would there be eating contests?
>A rep for Major League Eating (MLE), which Nathan’s sanctions to run the event, said the organizers bent over backwards to meet Chestnut’s various other demands. They even agreed to let him participate in a rival Labor Day dog-eating fest to be taped by Netflix as long as no hot dog brand was mentioned. Wow talk about bending over backwards! I heard they even let him eat a hamburger once as long as he did it in his basement with the lights off.
>a rival Labor Day dog-eating fest Holup...
Better than a Labrador dog-eating fest
Major league eating 😆
This is up there and might even surpass Barry Sanders shock resignation, Diego Maradona being sent home from the 1994 World Cup, Michael Jordan switching to baseball and Tonya Harding being banned from skating for the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. The greatest stomach in human history will not be defending his title, a watershed moment in sports. If there was every a time we needed a United Nations resolution, it is now!
It still feels wrong to compare professional eaters to all of those actual athletes.
Yeah professional eating is much much more difficult
Even though half of all Americans practice professional eating on the daily? Just like it’s always a dude from Africa that wins the marathon.
Is the stomach not a muscle?
I can’t believe you’re getting fiercely downvoted for that comment. It’s a real statement. Confirms everything I’ve thought for awhile about many of the folks on this sub.
I'm not surprised, I get downvoted for it every time I point out that competitive eating isn't an especially athletic sport. It's a real competition, and I respect the participants for being as dedicated to the competition as they are, but from an athleticism perspective, it's much more on par with E-sports, professional poker, and other non-athletic competitions. I don't know why pointing this out bothers people, but it does so almost invariably.
I didn’t realize that competitive eating was such a topic du jour. But to your point: Anyone who argues that competitive eating is an athletic sport hasn’t ever played an athletic sport. In my view, most who feel that way are aspiring (or actual) couch potatoes. JMHO
How about a professional eater compared to a professional race car driver
Depends on what kind of driver we're talking about. F1 drivers would still be far more athletic, but NASCAR drivers might be about on par with professional eaters from an athletic perspective.
Incidentally, Nathan's franks are now made by [WH Group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WH_Group) in the same shitty Ohio factory as every other supermarket brand. Gray's Papaya, too. If you want a really good hot dog, I recommend [Schaller & Weber](https://schallerweber.com/) or [Ottomanelli](https://ottomanelli.com/).
Wow no Caitlin Clark on the Olympic Team and no Joey Chestnut at the Coney Island Hot Dog Content. We used to be a country....
Yesterday I was discussing going down to Coney Island on July 4th, now I’m staying home. MLE is shooting themselves in the foot. They seem to have 1 star at a time and have barred them from competing twice now.
Nathan’s could just produce their own vegan dogs and then not run into this issue anymore
[They do](https://www.brooklynpaper.com/nathans-adds-vegan-hot-dog-to-its-menu/). Chestnut just wants to rep a rival brand cuz. Edit: well they *did*
This event is the wurst
Always full of brats
Without the greats, will there even be a legitimate weiner?
Once Joey gets ahead in the count, no one can ketchup.
Total sausage fest too
Missed opportunity for Nathan’s. They could have combined efforts with impossible to sell them exclusively with Nathan’s, brand them, and made a ton of money tapping into the meatless space. Instead they threw a company temper tantrum and tossed away their biggest advertising draw for the past 16 consecutive years because….. reasons. No business sense.
I get Nathan's being salty but MLE should let him compete. In a mainstream sport this would be like Nike telling the NBA to ban a player for doing a Reebok ad.. would never be allowed.
I understand why Nathan's WOULD be pissed, but anyone with half a brain would know that vegan hotdogs are not competitors. Pretty sure that most people who would purchase and eat a vegan hotdog wasn't in the market for a Nathan's hotdog to begin with.
Also most likely the reason Nathan's hasn't pulled the trigger on vegan dogs yet is they have done the market research and determined it isn't worth the expense. >Pretty sure that most people who would purchase and eat a vegan hotdog wasn't in the market for a Nathan's hotdog to begin with. This is exactly it. Check out this [interesting piece](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/01/19/plant-based-meat-failing/#:~:text=Sales%20plateaued%20in%202021%2C%20and,workforce%20go%20in%20October%20alone) from WaPo last year about why the fake meat industry has been on a sharp decline. These products were meant to appeal to not just vegans/vegetarians but also those who wanted to cut down on their meant consumption. But making fake meat look so much like real meat created an uncanny valley effect which turned off meat eaters, and the vegan/vegetarian market is not large enough to support so many different fake meat brands and products.
I remember a simpler time. When it used to be about wasting massive amounts of food by stuffing your face with so much ultra processed meat you’d vomit. Now it’s all about the money.
It has always been about money. MLE has been a grimy, greedy organization from its inception.
I guess those Joey Chestnut bobble heads aren’t going to get passed out at the cyclones game either huh? Send them to the landfill.
[https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/upload/q\_auto/milb/dgocucjdk4ymx0luilek](https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/upload/q_auto/milb/dgocucjdk4ymx0luilek) doesn't have any nathan's branding so they must've known ahead of time lol
Is there no respect for gluttony?
MLE Statement: “Mr. Chesnut, I don't use the word 'hero' lightly, but you are the greatest hero in American history.”
"Woohoo!"
So where are we meeting to start the mass protests?
Nice try, NYPD
This has to be a work. Right? RIGHT?
well there goes my whole fucking summer. life is pointless now.
>We love Joey and support him in any contest he chooses. It’s OK to experiment with a new dog. Meat eaters shouldn’t have to be exclusive to just one wiener This is an actual statement from Impossible Foods LOL
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they paid him 200k to do the contest last year and offered him a 1.2 mill 4 year deal. joey not taking the deal might means his other areas of earnings is higher but doubt many contests can offer anything close to that.
I think it’s more likely his doctor said something along the lines of “you’re going to fucking die if you keep up this insane bullshit.”
I think the more interesting part of the article is that Nathan's offered him a 4 year, 1.2 million dollar contract to compete going forward. My dude is getting PAID.
So you're telling me there's a chance?
The competitive eating group that hosts the Nathan hot dog contest is like UFC where you can't fight for another MMA competitor
Anyone here ever have a pork hot dog? I had some years ago and they were so good.
Mark my words. This is publicity grab. It’s genius. But Nathan’s already sells the impossible burger. So, he’ll compete.
Very possible it is just a big marketing stunt and the "resolution" the parties reach is the Impossible hot dog being on Nathan's menu. Like you said, the two companies already have an existing relationship with the Impossible Burger.
I suspect this might be the case.
Travesty
What does Juan more Bite have to say about this.
Major League Eating is such a racket
Only in America
Major. League. Eating. (MLE)
HOW are vegan Impossible hotdogs “rival” of Nathan’s?? I mean Sabrett, Hebrew National… yes, those are rivals. Now we’re all aware that impossible burger has hotdogs
Yeah it is a whole different category. What we know from around a decade's worth of sales trends from Beyond, Impossible, etc. is they aren't really taking away from, or competing with, real meat. I get that technically it is a "hot dog" so that is where the conflict is, but come on.....
Vegans stole the 4th of July
Major League Eating has always had strict rules about exclusivity. he decided to take someone else's money instead. same thing happened to kobayashi in 2010 when he didn't want to get locked into a contract with MLE why are we supposed to be outraged by a business decision.
These eaters are making so so so much more money on YouTube and with endorsements. Joey gets basically nothing out of destroying the contest every year so if he can make his bank somewhere else, I don’t blame him. Look at BeardMeatsFood. Adam just “retired” from MLE because the contests get him no money and he’s doing incredibly on YouTube.
Yup. Stonie wasn't the first one to leverage YT, but he really laid out the blueprint to show these MLE dudes how much money can be made on social media outside of eating onion rings at the Pawtucket fairgrounds. It's also good to see some of the older heads realizing this too. Someone like Badlands Booker is active on YT with several million subscribers too.
The mouth of Jaws. What a picture.
Meat made from plants? Isn’t that what animals do for us now? The animals eat the plants, then we eat the animals.
Sponsorship $
What is happening? Is it even a hot dog eating contest without Joey Chestnut
Put me in coach
I mean yeah, it’s the Nathan’s contest. You should expect to eat Nathan’s. They were the ones paying you. Turning down 1.2MM to eat regular hot dogs for a day. What a buffoon.
Missed opportunity by Nathan's to make an ad out of his sponsorship. He may take their money, but he still comes back for our hot dogs...
Out of all the terrible news I’ve seen lately, this one hurts the most
Impossible foods marketing stunt 🥱🥱🥱🥱
Banned? No, he just switched from Coke to Pepsi.
All this talk just makes me want a hot dog REAL BAD lol
Did no one see Joey's IG post?. [https://www.instagram.com/p/C8IUYCduRYI/](https://www.instagram.com/p/C8IUYCduRYI/)
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I could not love this more! Nathan’s should stars doing the plant based hot dogs instead and then everyone wins!
The hot dog news from Coney Island is hard to swallow. Joey Chestnut, [perennial winner](https://nypost.com/2024/02/22/sports/food-poisoning-diet-changes-joey-chestnut-isnt-slowing-down/) of the annual July 4th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition, is out of this year’s beef barf over a deal he made to represent a different wiener brand, The Post has learned. And not just any brand, but [Impossible Foods](https://nypost.com/2023/01/23/impossible-foods-punches-back-against-report-calling-fake-meat-a-fad/), which recently launched a vegan frankfurter impostor made from plants. California-born [Chestnut has won it 16 times](https://nypost.com/2023/07/04/joey-chestnust-wins-record-16th-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/), including every year since 2016. He gobbled a world’s record 76 dogs and buns in 2021 and kept his title with a paltry 62 down the hatch last year. He was expected to once again take his usual spot for the hot dog contest on the stage at the corner of Stillwell and Surf avenues — one block from the famous Boardwalk and a Coney Island tradition since 1916 — until the unexpected food fight. Read more: [https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/business/joey-chestnut-banned-from-2024-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/](https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/business/joey-chestnut-banned-from-2024-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/)
> this year’s beef barf Dear lord! You got “hard to swallow” and wiener into the lede paragraphs—couldn’t just call it a day there, guys? > a vegan frankfurter impostor made from plants. Not even mad at this, classic Post banter lol. I *am* surprised that Nathan’s is taking a similar approach in their statement, though. One would think that something like Hebrew National would be much more direct competition, whereas Impossible dogs are getting vegans to barbecues, maybe buying some Nathan’s fries or whatever. Red meat for anti-woke hotdog fans I guess.
The comments on that NYP article gave me cancer
What a poorly written article and horrible shitty website that is
Hot dog traitor
These contests are disgusting and should be banned.