Students rely on rice, gluttony, drugs to be burrito champions

It’s not easy to eat 60 ounces of rice, beans, chicken and cheese as quickly as possible…. It’s not easy to eat 60 ounces of rice, beans, chicken and cheese as quickly as possible.

But that’s what Qdoba Mexican Grill called on brave contestants to do in the second annual Qdoba burrito-eating contest, held Saturday in the restaurant located on Forbes Avenue in Oakland.

Winners had to eat three burritos as quickly as possible, using only their hands, without throwing up or making a trip to the bathroom.

“Let’s hope there’s not much hurling this year,” said Qdoba owner and operator Chad Brooks, balancing his young son, Sam, on his shoulder. Brooks stood in front of the counter and supervised the making of the burritos, which were soon to be gobbled up by the 18 participants in the competition.

An assembly line of Qdoba employees quickly compiled the burritos, putting an assortment of salsas on each burrito. Each contestant had to consume a burrito with mild, hot and extra hot salsa to win.

Meanwhile, the contestants sat at the square, steel tables, sipping water out of small plastic cups and seeming surprisingly confident.

“My whole life has been in preparation for this,” explained 25-year-old Jon Scott of Squirrel Hill. Scott said he had not done anything in particular to prepare for his burrito eating competitive debut.

Another man at the table had indeed done a little something to help him get his munch on.

“I smoked some pot right before I came down here,” he said, smiling gleefully, with strangely blood-shot eyes.

The contestants at the next table took more serious preparatory action. But previous Qdoba burrito eating title-holder, Ashley Wingert, left his burrito-eating preparations for this year’s contest undisclosed.

“It’s a training secret,” he said slyly, adding that he did not want anyone to know because they might use his secret to out-eat him. Last year, Wingert ate several cups of rice each day to prepare himself for the contest and subsequent victory.

Another tablemate used the theory of sheer gluttony to prepare for the tournament.

“I [had] like five oranges, two liters of water and a half-pound of potatoes last night,” Carnegie Mellon University senior Chris Murtland explained.

Employees finished piling the meat, cheese, rice and beans into soft shells, wrapped each burrito in foil, and dropped them into paper bags.

Brooks, speaking to the contestants and the small crowd gathered to watch the competitive chomping, announced that the three burritos totaled about 60 ounces of burrito.

“Anybody want to feel the weight?” he asked, dropping a bag into a participant’s hand. The contender looked stunned by the sheer mass of the burritos, as her hand dropped several inches before grasping the bag tightly.

One contestant mentioned how the burritos didn’t look quite as menacing when they were tucked neatly in the white Qdoba-logoed paper bags.

Scott, in anticipation, yelled to an employee to join him in eating the burritos.

“I can’t even handle half of one,” she responded, laughing. “There’s no way in hell.”

Once the burritos had been passed out and contestants had arranged them in an appropriate eating order, the biting, slurping, chomping and regurgitating began.

The majority of contestants ate the burritos at a moderate pace, sipping water and trying to gain composure every few bites.

Wingert, on the other hand, had a unique burrito-eating technique. He began by eating the soft shells of each burrito, and then inhaled the insides. Rice and beans were smeared across his face as he held up the tinfoil burrito wrapper and lapped up the contents.

Murtland’s binge fest was not enough for him to get his three burritos down. He began the competition by sucking and slurping, but soon his head was in the garbage can, and he was burping and barfing.

Unfortunately, regurgitation or trips to the bathroom meant instant disqualification, and thus Murtland could not finish his burrito binge.

While Wingert was eating his burritos in a dog-like fashion, Pitt senior Sam Audia kept his burritos intact, and was coming up ahead of Wingert. Audia reached his third while Wingert was still slurping up a massive pile of burrito innards.

“I think he has an abnormally large stomach,” a companion of Audia’s commented, as he watched his friend inhale his third and final burrito.

The crowd cheered, and nine minutes after the eating begun, Audia took his final bite, stood up, looked at his friends, and made an inquiry.

“Dessert?” he asked.

Brooks went to congratulate his new burrito-eating fiend and present him with a cash prize and an Oakland Zoo T-shirt. Other eaters still feasted on the burritos, hoping to finish the race.

“I wasn’t really hungry, but I won $100, so that was cool,” Audia said, clasping the fresh bills in his hands.

Wingert, obviously upset with the loss of his title, continued to consume the burritos.

“There’s a t-shirt to be won,” he explained, slurping more rice and beans.

Contestants Paul Buyanovsky, a CMU sophomore, and Lucy Lascelles, of London, munched slowly on their burritos even after Audia had taken the title.

Lascelles, perplexed by the American pleasure in competitive food consumption, admitted that it gave her insight into the culture.

“It was a liberating experience,” she said. “I thought we should have been able to use knives and forks, though.”

Lascelles was the only female participant in the burrito-eating contest this year.

Buyanovsky said he was delighted with the event.

“It was thrilling,” he said. “Qdoba is a fascinating experience.”

At that moment, the second regurgitation of the competition occurred, when ex-champion Wingert could no longer handle his burrito remains. He clasped the garbage can, put his head in, took it out, gagged, and then put his head in again, spewing burrito particles all through the container.

He explained that he had been able to use silverware last year, while this year’s rules did not allow it. The change of rules had hurt his performance, he said.

While Wingert was disappointed with his loss, owner Brooks was pleased at the turnout and participation.

“We’re seeing a higher quality entrant this year,” Brooks said.

His son, Sam, still riding on his daddy’s shoulders, smiled gleefully.

At his father’s coaxing, Sam said, “Eat Qdoba. It’s yummy.”