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An Interview With Canada’s Poutine-Eating Champion
Last year, at the first-ever World Poutine-Eating Championships, Ben Do ate seven pounds of spuds and curds in 10 minutes. This year, he's returning for a second helping.
Ben Do at last year's Poutine-Eating Championships. Photo courtesy of Smoke's Poutinerie.
Ben Do, 23, is a poutine-devouring machine. Last May, at the first-ever World Poutine-Eating Championships, the Kitchener native (who entered the contest as an amateur) ate seven pounds of Smoke’s Poutinerie’s traditional poutine in 10 minutes, putting him well ahead of many of the professional competitive eaters he was up against. Do’s performance made him the top Canadian finisher—though he didn’t come close to besting the championship’s winner, Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti of Chicago, who ate 13 pounds.
This year, Smoke’s is sponsoring a second poutine-eating contest, at the Rogers Centre, on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. (Just before the Argos game.) Do will be there to defend his country’s honour against the returning Bertoletti in this most Canadian of eating challenges.
We spoke to Do about what it takes to be a winner.
I understand you’re going pro now. Are you with Major League Eating?
Um, not officially. But I’m trying to do a few more contests so I can be with Major League Eating officially and become ranked.
How intensely have you been training?
Well, I had a competition a month ago, at the Toronto Festival of Beer. I did wings there. And this week, I’ve just been eating a lot of cabbage in one sitting. And tomorrow [Thursday] there’s a thing on 102.1 The Edge, at 8:15, where I’ll be eating poutine against Meatus. And CP24 at noon on Friday, I’ll be doing a demo there. So, I’ll be using those as my practice eats.
Okay. Why cabbage?
I was told that cabbage has gases that help expand the stomach, and there’s a lot of fibre in cabbage, so it’ll go right through you. As opposed to eating a lot of poutine; you’ll get a lot of your carbs and fats and stuff that way.
Cabbage has gases. That’s an interesting theory. Who’d you hear that from?
I was just looking around online for different stomach-stretching practices.
How did you do at the Toronto Festival of Beer? How many wings did you put down?
I came third, and I ate about three pounds of meat.
How many pounds did the winner eat?
The winner ate, I think, three-and-a-half to four pounds. The margin wasn’t that big.
Have you eaten poutine at all since last year, or were you just totally sick of it afterward?
No, I actually love Smoke’s poutine. I had some three weeks ago, at the London location. I go to Smoke’s pretty regularly.
Do you have a favourite menu item?
My favourite one would be the triple pork. That’s the pulled pork, the bacon, and the sausage.
So this Saturday you’re going back into the eye of the tiger, I guess. Is there any strategy to eating poutine competitively?
Last year, my technique was to scoop all the poutine in at once. Like, use my hand as a spoon and just scoop it in like soup. But I watched a video that my dad taped, and I noticed the winner, Pat Bertoletti, squeezing the gravy out of his poutine. And that seemed like it made it a little easier for him to eat. I’m not 100 per cent sure what technique I’m gonna use this year.
He was squeezing the gravy out of the poutine? Isn’t that technically cheating?
Uh, I guess. I’m not sure. Some people were saying that he had a lot of debris last year, too. But I didn’t notice any.
Last year he almost doubled me. I’m just trying to cut that margin in half, at least.
Do you worry about your body when you go into these types of situations?
No, not at all. Regularly, I’m on a pretty strict diet, and I work out five days a week, so I’m not too worried.
How do you cope with how you feel afterward? What do you do with yourself for the five hours after eating however many pounds of poutine? Do you just lie on a couch and moan?
No, actually, two or three hours later, I’m out eating again—eating my next meal.
What’s a good post–poutine contest meal, would you say?
Uh, line up at the Smoke’s Poutinerie truck, get another poutine.
Are you kidding me, or is that really what you’ll do?
That’s probably what I’ll do. Because they give you the traditional one, right? With just the cheese curds and gravy. I want to get one with some meat, some other toppings on it.
Are they paying you to say this?
Oh, no. Not at all.
Do you have any advice for people entering the Poutine-Eating Championships for the first time?
Just keep eating. Don’t worry about what everyone else around you is doing. Try to drown out the crowd, drown out the MC, and just focus on your eat.