Man wins dumpling eating contest, then dies

[marmar]

(Reuters) - A 77-year-old Ukrainian man won a jar full of sour cream for coming first in a dumpling eating contest and then promptly died, local media reported on Wednesday.

Ivan Mendel ate 10 dumplings in half a minute to win first place and a one-liter jar of sour cream in the contest held in the town of Tokmak in the southeastern Zaporizhya region on September 18, Fakty I Kommentarii newspaper said.

Shortly afterwards, Mendel became unwell and died, according to local news websites.

Dumplings, called "vareniki" in the former Soviet republic, are a staple of Ukrainian cuisine and are often stuffed with a range of fillings from mushrooms to cherries.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/21/us-dumplings-death-idUSTRE78K3O320110921

[Enrique]

1. he died doing what he loved

eating dumplings. :shrug:

[AngryAmish]

10. just like Elvis

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Elvis loved taking a shit?

:shrug:

[zanana1]

15. It doesn't matter if you're "taking" one when you die...

It happens as soon as you die, anyway.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. Yeah, but Elvis was actually on the toilet when he croaked.

So either he had amazing foresight, or that was the activity he had planned anyway.

[zanana1]

37. That happens alot with heart attack fatalities. nt

[Auntie Bush]

39. Better to die having sex

[Generic Brad]

40. He wasn't considered "The King" for nothing

:hurts:

[geomon666]

25. Don't we all? n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

26. Not that much.

but hey, to each their own.

[geomon666]

27. I have a pillow on my toilet.

Just in case...

[Warren DeMontague]

28. TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[JVS]

35. Nobody loves trying to evacuate an impacted bowel.

[Taverner]

2. Well, he died happy...

Sure beats being blown away by cops who got the wrong house...

[sharp_stick]

3. I'm hungry now

I could go for a pile of Wareniki filled with Cottage Cheese, covered in brown butter and a sugary sour cream sauce just like Oma used to make.

My father never could understand our love of these things and simply referred to them as "art-gum" erasers on a plate. The rest of us however could hoover them down by the plateful.

[hlthe2b]

4. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often...

I really find eating contests repulsive, but that is just me, I guess....:shrug:

[Arkansas Granny]

6. No, not just you. I feel the same way.

[WCGreen]

36. me 2

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. IIRC, Ripley's no longer does "volume" contests for this reason.

Though they still do speed contests.

My former boss once ate 5 double whoppers with cheese for a 500? 1000? dollar bet. he looked awful when he was done. He was in a daze. I thought for sure he was going to have a heart attack.

[OswegoAtheist]

34. Ugh.

I once ate two KFC double downs (one fried, one grilled) for $100. Not worth it, man.

Oswego "don't ask how my body reacted to that sudden stress" Atheist

[Ilsa]

11. Me too. The hotdog contests repulse me the most. nt

[NCarolinawoman]

16. same here.

Hate all those contests, but the hot dog one is the worst, IMO. Gluttony with animal parts.

[murielm99]

12. Remember the Alka Seltzer commercial with the pie

eating contest?

It came on when I was a kid. Alka Seltzer pulled it fairly quickly. At the time, quite a few people objected to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7MM-unptgY

[siligut]

20. The Food Network has a program called Man vs Food

The host goes around the US and enters food eating challenges. He isn't a huge guy, but his stomach must be stretched out. At any rate, I don't watch it, it is so wrong on so many levels.

[Blue_Tires]

22. +1000

They used to just be back county freakshows until ESPN started treating it like a sport

[CTyankee]

23. They make me sick, so I don't watch any footage on them.

I can't understand them. Aren't the people sick after eating all those chicken wings or hot dogs or whatever? What's the matter with people who want to do them anyway?

[W_HAMILTON]

31. Can someone explain why someone would die?

I've heard of stories like this before. One guy I believe was just overindulging on a bunch of steaks at some celebration dinner and died. What is the medical reason someone would immediately die from overindulging like this? Maybe it is a stupid question :(

[hlthe2b]

32. Usually they are found to have choked to death..

but certainly it could also trigger an MI (heart attack) in someone with major risk factors.

[laundry_queen]

33. I'm not sure about immediately

But I do know that about a half hour to an hour after a high fat meal your blood becomes thick with lipids. I remember reading somewhere that many people die of heart attacks right after a high fat meal because of it.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. eating contests are gross and stupid. That is all.

[TwilightGardener]

7. Holy shit, the prize was sour cream?

What, is it like currency over there or something?

[Lint Head]

9. Winning a jar of sour cream is an exciting thing and probably too much for his heart.

Instead of cremation his last wish was to be boiled for several minutes, and then covered with butter or cooking oil.

It's sad when anyone dies. People can joke about my demise too. We all go there and there is enough sadness to go around. When my time comes I'll probably pass away in some ridicules situation.

[kenny blankenship]

13. He should be stuffed.

After 10 vareniki in 30 seconds, anyone would be.

[Nye Bevan]

17. I seem to remember some Russian guy winning a vodka-drinking competition

and then dying of alcohol poisoning.

Yeah, here it is: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3284487.stm

Organisers of a vodka-drinking contest in Russia are facing manslaughter charges after the unlucky winner died of alcohol poisoning within minutes.

Five other contestants ended up in intensive care after drinking heavily in the competition at a bar in the southern town of Volgodonsk.

Prosecutors said the unnamed winner, who had drained three half-litre glasses, died 20 minutes later.

If he had survived, he would have won a further 10 bottles of vodka.

Darwin awards spring to mind here.

[JoePhilly]

19. These clearly are not similar to the steamed dumplings I get from the Chineese restaurant.

My 12 year old daughter could eat 20 of those if we let her. She'll order a side of 8 as if it was a meal. Then she usually gets an order of rice, and an order of steamed broccoli.

What's in these killer dumplings?

[geardaddy]

24. Cheese.

I agree with you. I ate about two pounds of jiao-zi at one sitting when I lived in Beijing, but that was over a span of at least 30 minutes.

Plus the fact that he ate 10 in less than 30 seconds.

[JoePhilly]

29. So these are packed with cheese ... that makes sense!!!

I wish some one posted a picture of these ... and dumplings with cheese ... that does sound good to me.

[WI_DEM]

21. What people will do to win a jar of sour cream.

[pinniped]

30. That must have been a damm good sour cream.

.

[Swede]

38. Not a bad way to go,when it comes right down to it.

He was a man, take him for all in all.