At stake was a $2,500 gift certificate to a home appliance chain that served as the event’s grand prize.
The event is the brainchild of Ronnie Dragoon, the owner of Ben’s, which has more than 15 outlets in the New York area.
The contest — in which contestants had to eat as many matzah balls as possible in five minutes and 25 seconds — had a serious purpose: raising funds for the Interfaith Nutrition Network, which operates soup kitchens and homeless shelters on Long Island and in New York City. All told, the event raised $5,000 for the nutrition network.
The event featured almost as much hoopla per game time as the Super Bowl. Complete with descriptions of the eaters as “world-class athletes,” the pre-game festivities stretched on for nearly an hour.
Finally, the contestants sat in their seats. Nine places were set, with silverware and napkins and glasses of water. An apron was provided for each contestant.
The contest itself was a study in personality: Some of the participants stuffed their faces, pieces of the matzah balls — floaters, not sinkers, said Dragoon — remaining around the corners of their mouths. Others, including defending champion Stock, used the utensils provided and ate properly.
“Use the water, man,” implored one fan.
When the matzah meal had settled, two contestants had consumed 11 1/8 balls each. Defending champion Stock, a 40-ish resident of Queens, N.Y., was not one of them. The balls, he complained, had the texture of apples.
In the sudden-death eatoff, Russell Machover, a 41-year-old trim, diabetic investment banker from Long Island, defeated his 19-year-old rival, Corey Barrett.
Together, Machover ate more than 16 matzah balls in the two rounds, most of which found their way back into the sick bucket. But he held them in for the required five minutes necessary to claim the crown.