Competitive eaters pack away Indian Tacos in Tower

World #1 competitive eater Joey Chestnut plows through trays of buffalo wings at a 2012 competition. (PHOTO: Legendary Larry’s, Flickr CC)

UPDATE: Results below.

ORIGINAL POST: Four of the top ten highest ranked professional eaters, including world #1 Joey Chestnut, will compete at Fortune Bay Resort and Casino in Tower this Saturday for the World Indian Taco Eating Contest.

Where to begin?

Let’s start with Indian Tacos. These are tacos made with fry bread. Fry bread is dough that’s been deep fried. Fry bread is a popular powwow food in American Indian communities, and though the term “Indian Taco” sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen, it’s a fairly well-embraced term among Ojibwa people in Northern Minnesota.

Now let’s talk about competitive eating.

People eat insane, medically questionable amounts of food to win contests. That’s a thing. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island? Chestnut holds the record of eating 72 hot dogs in ten minutes. He won the Mustard Belt ten times, including a successful defense of his title this year.

So this Saturday at 5 p.m., competitors will seek to set a world record for competitive Indian Taco Eating at Fortune Bay. The event is sanctioned by the Major League Eaters, the top organization for this unsightly business. Fortune Bay employees and Bois Forte band members will join the top ranked eaters in the contest. The general public can watch, and even purchase their own Indian Tacos to get in on the fun.

Do you think you can match up against the world’s best eaters? Well, too bad. The contest is full. But if you want to see what grown-up people are capable of doing with unfathomable amounts of Indian Tacos, you know where to go.

UPDATE: In a big upset, pro eater Geoffrey Esper edged Chestnut for the win. Esper consumed 29 Indian Tacos to Chestnut’s 28. The rest of the field lagged further behind.

Geoffrey Esper named winner of the World Indian Taco Eating Contest on Nov. 5, 2017. Esper set a world record eating 29 Indian Tacos. World #1 eater Joey Chestnut looks on, finishing with 28 Indian Tacos. (PHOTO: Fortune Bay Resort and Casino)