Gluttonous Gourmet

When it comes to eating, Miyuki Iwata takes a lot of beating. The 157-centimeter-tall, 40-kilogram Japanese lady has a gargantuan appetite that she puts to full effect at eating competitions around the world. She was on winning form yesterday at the Asia Eating Contest final in Shanghai, writes Fan Meijing.

Miyuki Iwata ate 20 big dishes of pork and steak and lots of sea food on Friday. Later that night, she ate dozens of bars of chocolate because she "felt hungry again."

The 33-year-old ate 150 dumplings for breakfast the next morning. Though she skipped lunch, she ate 22 hot dogs weighing a total of 1,650 grams (each weighs 75 grams) in just 15 minutes in the semifinal of the Asia Eating Contest in Shanghai on Saturday afternoon, beating the runner-up by a clear 600 grams. A normal person, however, would struggle to eat more than 10 similar hot dogs within that time frame, according to the doctor attending the competition.

That was not the end of her stunning eating record in Shanghai.

"I'm not full or contented," sighed the "Eating Queen" from Japan during her first visit to the city. "Hot dogs are delicious but eating so many in one go, they get a bit boring. I'd like to eat Shanghai-style dishes tonight. I haven't eaten enough local desserts."

This was not just talk. Listed on her Saturday dinner bill were a whole chicken and a duck, 20 small bowls of porridge, five big fried dishes (including vegetables and meats) and two babaofans (a traditional Shanghai snack made of sticky rice, sweetened bean paste and six other nutlets and glazed fruit).

At yesterday's final, Iwata won eating 12 plates of rice mixed with curry, a total weight of nearly 5.75 kilograms, in 20 minutes. The Hong Kong runner-up could only manage eight plates. The purse for the champion was 10,000 yuan (US$1,250), runner-up 3,000 yuan and third place 1,000 yuan.

It would be fair to assume that a woman who boasts such a huge appetite would be "huge" herself. The fact, however, is that she's 157 centimeters in height and weighs only 40 kilograms.

Iwata is tiny-faced, big-eyed and white-skinned and she has a shapely body. Even during the fierce eating contest, as she munches away, she maintains her good grace.

"I'm a trained professional sportswoman," Iwata says. She firmly disputes accusations that eating competitions are meaningless gluttony.

On the match stage, she stands to keep the body upright. Her face is slightly upward so that the food can pass through her gullet more smoothly. She takes a mouthful and without much chewing, she gulps the food down. Swallowing without chewing is one of her secrets for success. She certainly employs the sportswoman's discipline.

Off the stage, Iwata leads a simple ordinary life in which preparing and attending the eating contests plays a large part. Living in Shibaya in Tokyo and working at a famous luxurious restaurant, she walks at least four hours a day to keep fit.

"I don't like other sports. I take a walk every morning and drink milk for breakfast," she says. "I eat ginger and garlic for they help strengthen the body. I avoid carbohydrate foods in the days before the contest and this creates my hunger for them."

Born in Kanagawa to an ordinary family whose members are all very slim, Iwata as a little girl who surprised her parents with her extraordinary appetite. "Good or not, it is a gift from god," she smiles.

Later a hospital diagnosed her as having "an exceptionally big stomach and excellent digestive abilities."

To satisfy her seemingly never-ending appetite, Iwata has to spend most of her monthly income - about 20,000 yuan - on food. On average she eats six kilograms at each meal. On working days she eats the regular three meals with her colleagues but she frequently has snacks to satisfy the hunger.

"My personal record of food expenditure is 400,000 yen (US$3,548) a month. I used up all my salary and even my bank savings," she recalls, bursting into laughter. "But I never think of my life as poor or miserable. I always believe eating is the most wonderful things and I fully enjoy the process."

It isn't the prizes or the fame but her deep love of food and eating itself that pushed her onto the competitive stage.

In 2000, Iwata took part in her first eating contest, the National TV Eating Competition in Japan (eating sushi), and she won. She later won several contests, impressing TV audiences with her ability to eat such a wide range of foods: hot dogs, noodles, tofu, rice and beans.

Iwata was invited to join the Shanghai contest organized by Shanghai Jiuguang Department Store over the weekend, competing with 28 local gluttons and a Hong Kong champion, Chang Wing-Man. Again, she secured an overwhelming victory.

After returning to Tokyo, Iwata will join the preliminaries of Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York where she will challenge some very powerful eaters, including Kobayashi Takeru, the hot-dog-eating world champion and record holder.

"I compete in the first six months of the year and then relax for the rest," she says. "A healthy stomach is, after all, the precondition for happy eating."

Though she does regard eating as her life-long career, Iwata does not set her ultimate goal as "a champion of gluttony."

"A champion of gourmet," instead, is what she dreams to be. "I'd like to host some food or cooking TV show, to introduce to more people good foods and different flavors, their ingredients and different preparation techniques, as well as share with them my happiness and gratitude towards food," she smiles, her eyes sparkling. Iwata has been invited by a TV station to work on a food show that will be broadcast later this year.

Eating to win money and fame but not at the expense of beauty, Iwata possesses a rare good fortune that many dieting women dream of. It seems that a husband is the only thing lacking in her life. Romance is never absent, but when it comes to marriage, the men are simply scared away.

"No, I'm not despairing," Iwata says confidently. "The man of my dreams is sportsman-like, strong and shapely. I don't care if he's Japanese or a foreigner, but he must know the fact that I eat as much as I do completely acceptable."

Iwata's eating record

100 dumplings in 27 minutes

70 barbecue chicken sticks in 30 minutes

20-person-portion parfait in 30 minutes

4 birthday cakes in 28 minutes

10 dishes of omelet rice in 7 minutes

3 kilograms of steak in 25 minutes