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11th time is charm for winner of pasta-eating contest
Photo
Duke Girardi of Boardman, far left, stands up as he finishes eating around a pound of rigatoni at the Greater Youngstown Italian Fest on Saturday afternoon. Girardi finished first in the pasta-eating contest, which he has entered in each of the last 11 years. The emcee, second from left, was Todd DeMain, and the other contestants are, seated from left, Michael DeLucia III of Green near Akron, MichaelDeLucia II of Green and Scott Cross of Columbiana.
By Ed Runyan
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s perhaps one of the few times when a visitor to the Greater Youngstown Italian Fest downtown doesn’t get to savor the food.
“Last year, I tried to chew, but he told me just to swallow,” Michael DeLucia III of Green, near Akron, said Saturday afternoon, pointing to Scott Cross of Columbiana, a fellow contestant in the pasta-eating contest.
“I learned that if I was going to win it, I was going to have to swallow them all [without chewing],” he said.
DeLucia and Cross, his relative, were among three members of the family who participated in the contest. DeLucia, Cross and DeLucia’s father, Michael DeLucia Jr., have participated the last two years.
But the winner of Saturday’s contest, Duke Girardi of Boardman, has competed in the contest much longer. This was his 11th-straight contest and the first time he’s won it, having finished second four times and third six times.
Girardi agrees that a pasta-eating contest isn’t a pleasurable eating experience “except when you’re done,” he said.
As for how he felt after the contest, Girardi says the pound of rigatoni he consumed in about a minute doesn’t bother his stomach.
“I’m Italian. I love pasta,” he said.
Cross said he’s a regular in eating contests, having competed several times in a Halloween pumpkin-pie-eating contest.
He also won the Italian Fest pasta-eating contest last year.
When asked whether he has a strategy that helps him succeed, Cross said, “No. Just don’t eat [before the contest].”
The Italian Fest, which is on Central Square, continues at 11 a.m. today with events such as the Little King and Queen Contest at 3 p.m. and the band Graphic Pink at 8:30 p.m. It ends at 11 p.m.
Admission is $3.