How Many Hot Dogs Can You Eat in 10 Minutes?

Every year on the Fourth of July, eyes are on the sky after dark for fireworks displays. Earlier in the day, a focus of attention is Coney Island and the annual Nathan’s hot dog eating contest.

The first recorded such contest took place in 1972. But was it the first ever? Nathan’s website states “legend has it” that the very first contest was on July 4, 1916, the same year that Nathan Handwerker opened his hot dog stand, which still occupies the same corner of Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island. However, in 2010, a PR agent named Mortimer Matz confessed that he and a colleague, Max Rosey, made up that urban legend.

Whether the contest has been going on for more than a century or for half as long, it has become a popular spectator sport. Some 30,000 to 40,000 people flock to Coney Island to watch and cheer on the big eaters. For 20 years, ESPN has been airing the contest live. Like other competitive sports, the contest has rules and a sanctioning organization, Major League Eating.

The champion eater and fan favorite is Joey Chestnut, a 16-time winner. In 2021, Chestnut set an all-time record, downing 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. This year, Chestnut was denied entry in the competition because of a deal he had with the plant-based food manufacturer Impossible Food; hot dogs are among its products. The 2024 winner among male contenders was Patrick Bertoletti, who swallowed a mere 58 hot dogs. The defending female champion, Miki Sudo, downed almost as many, 51. It was her tenth win.

Joey Chestnut holding the award, the “mustard belt” after his 2009 win.

Incidentally, Nathan’s didn’t originate the hot dog. That honor goes to Charles Feltman, who opened the first hot dog stand in the nation in 1871, also in Coney Island. And New York PR pros have fabricated origin stories about other products, such as the all-purpose credit card. You can read the full stories of the origin of the hot dog and the credit card in New York City Firsts.