You remember the GroupMe Grill from SXSW where you could get free beer and grilled-cheese sandwiches? Well, it turned into a battleground of competitive eating today, as Takeru Kobayashi pounded down 13 grilled cheeses in a minute. It was simultaneously the best/worst thing I’ve seen at the conference by far.
The GroupMe folk were working in combination with the RecordSetter crew by making a new world record on how many grilled cheese sandwiches could be eaten in 60 seconds. The first round involved GroupMe employees and onlookers. The record on this one was four and I’ll get that video up for you later so you can see how grueling that was.
Kobayashi is a professional competitive eater, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he was able to pull this off but it’s still quite amazing. You’ll notice how he carefully checks the temperature of the water that he dunks these sandwiches into before inhaling them – a sign of a true pro.
If you think you can beat Kobayashi, you should think again. This isn’t even what I’d consider eating – it’s more like mass consumption. I’ve put the whole 6+ minute video in here to give you an idea of the atmosphere but if you just want to see eating, skip ahead to the 4-minute mark or so.