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Austin’s South By Southwest Interactive festival doesn’t just showcase business savvy and technological innovation. Now, it also showcases the art of eating.
Legendary Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi set a new record at the festival’s technology conferences, downing 13 grilled cheese sandwiches in one minute. Yes, 13 sandwiches. In 60 seconds.
(MORE: TIME’s complete SXSW coverage)
In an event sponsored by GroupMe, Kobayashi swiftly knocked back the sandwiches after dunking each in a bucket of water. RecordSetter, a website that tracks bizarre world records, presided over the event. The site’s founder, Dan Rollman, told Buzzfeed, “Certainly in the culinary realm, [Kobayashi’s] my number one record-setter of all time.” And Rollman’s no neophyte when it comes to records — he currently holds the title for most bananas fit in a pair of pants while still wearing said pants. (If you were wondering, which you probably were at least a little, he fit 60 bananas in there.)
As for grilled cheeses, “most consumed in one minute” is a new category established yesterday. Kobayashi faced four amateur eaters, who could only make it through three of four. Still, the 33-year-old champion seemed disappointed in his performance. “I thought I could eat more,” he told BuzzFeed.
For the past three days, GroupMe has been serving festival-goers free grilled-cheese sandwiches, with the company’s logo burnt into the bread, to promote its group text messaging service.
MORE: Takeru Kobayashi Downs Record 337 Chicken Wings in 30 Minutes