Have you ever heard of nattou (納豆)? It's fermented beans that are slimy, sticky, and smell like socks. I quite like nattou, but many foreigners (and some Japanese) think it's utterly repellent. Sounds like the perfect food for a speed eating contest!
If you are not familiar with nattou, here is a video of people trying it for the first time. (Like I said, nattou is good! Don't let the smell put you off. Or the texture. Or, pretty much, everything about it.)
And now, here is the speed-eating contest that was just held in the Japanese city of Mito, which is famous for its nattou.
There were two parts to the event: One was eating a bowl of nattou with rice in under a few minutes, while the other was just eating big bowls of nattou.
In the men's division, last year's winner once again came out on top. "I'm satisfied because I shaved two minutes off last year's time," said the two-time fermented bean champion.
Below, watch people bravely shovel down bowls of nattou (video courtesy of FNN):
茨城・水戸市で「水戸納豆早食い世界大会」が行われました。[FNN]
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