Eating As A Sport

Let's talk about something "lightweight", today: food, once again. Why? Because it seems so "important" nowadays, in a way or another. Here is an additional observation of mine about contemporary life.

Reading the news headlines on the Internet sometimes puzzles me. One recent news, for example, announced a  new world record regarding eating an incredible amount of burgers (or hot dogs) in one minute. I understand that participants in eating contests are called "competitive eaters", they are followed by acclaiming audiences and big fans. They are professionals. I can't help asking myself, as I usually do when I am puzzled, what can inspire a person to start such a kind of "career". Usually, when people are looking for a job, they try to find an occupation, a type of employment, a business, i.e. something productive for society as well as rewarding for themselves. Can gorging down food at high speed be defined a "job"? I imagine that the winner gets some money as a prize and I also presume that he likes food. But I have a hard time comprehending what kind of inner satisfaction such an activity can bring. Nevertheless it must do so, as it seems that eating contests are a rather popular entertainment with lots of participants, both "professional" and "amateur". Psychologists have determined that food can be used as a sort of security blanket that makes some individuals feel protected, giving them a surrogate feeling of the safety they may be lacking in their lives. This certainly clarifies several situations of overweight, but eating as a "sport" sounds quite different. Could it be explained by a feeling of "achievement", which implies the idea of accomplishing something with an effort (although certainly not with courage or skill as the definition entails)? Maybe. It's another "mystery" of the human mind. Is it worth exploring? I don't really know. I limit myself to ask a question which, although not of capital importance, can be - to a certain extent - amusing and even helpful to our desire to better understand as many facets of the human behavior as possible. In so doing, we might come nearer to understanding our own selves a little better.