41 hot dogs in 10 minutes, and an appetite for more

It took Patrick Bertoletti 10 minutes to eat 41 hot dogs -- with buns -- on Saturday, a gastronomical feat he pulled off in a Cub Foods parking lot to the tune of "Baba O'Riley" by the Who.

Standing before a few dozen onlookers and flanked by 14 other contestants, some of them novices who had never entered a speed-eating contest, Bertoletti, 22, dipped the hot dogs into warm fruit punch before stuffing them into his mouth two at a time as the clock ticked to zero.

Afterward, recounting his victory, he said he could eat more, with a little training.

"I don't feel full," said Bertoletti.

His journey to the boundaries of gluttony and beyond came courtesy of Nathan's Famous, the Coney Island hot dog company that for the past 92 years has sponsored a hot dog eating contest on July 4th. Saturday's contest at a Cub Foods in Apple Valley was a preliminary round for the upcoming national competition.

The spectacle of competitive eating landed in the Twin Cities on the same day that local residents were asked to help those who go without: the National Association of Letter Carriers annual food drive, the largest single-day food drive in the country. On Saturday, letter carriers across the nation collected nonperishable items and distributed them to area food shelves on behalf of the 4 percent of Americans who don't get enough to eat every day, many of them children.

"We have a goal for 1.2 million pounds in one day," said Heidi Stennis, a spokeswoman for Second Harvest, the local food bank distributing the food collected Saturday by metro area postal carriers. She said early results appeared promising.

Whatever contradictions the events might have suggested were lost on the crowd at the Cub Foods parking lot.

Children were invited to finger-paint with ketchup, mustard and relish. Families at another table were challenged to make the most creative hot dog sculptures they could imagine.

"We were over at Petco when we heard some noise and came over," said Chris Jasper, of Prior Lake, who said she didn't know what to make of the competitive eating contest. She had never seen one before. She stood with her son, Michael, 8, and looked on as the contestants ate, burped, bounced in place or reached for individual black buckets, available just in case.

"Pretty bizarre," said Jasper, before noticing a woman among the eating contestants. "I'm proud that there's a woman up there, though."

Bertoletti, of Chicago, placed third in the nation last year. His win on Saturday ensured him another trip to the national competition.

Second place on Saturday went to Eagan native Patrick Vandam, 24, who swallowed 30 hot dogs. That would have given him at least ninth place in the national competition last year, but only half as many as he would have needed to win: Champion Joey Chestnut ate 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes, or about one every 12 seconds.

Standing in the parking lot on Saturday, Lanasia Johnson of Apple Valley stared as the contestants channeled their inner trash compactors, hoping to find more space for just one more hot dog.

Her eyes fixed on the carnival of eating taking place in front of her, she said: "I've never seen someone eat so much at once."

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329