Man eats 7 pounds of latkes to win N.Y. contest

[December 22, 2008]  LAKE GROVE, N.Y. (AP) -- That's a lot of latkes. A 23-year-old mechanical engineering student has downed 46 of the potato pancakes in eight minutes to win a contest at a Long Island deli.

Pete Czerwinski (sir-WIN'-skee) says he'd never eaten a latke (lot-kuh) before consuming about 7 pounds of them Sunday at Zan's in Lake Grove. The Toronto bodybuilder says he's just "a power eater" whose brain never signals that he's full.

Association of Independent Competitive Eaters Chairman Arnie Chapman says Czerwinski demolished the contest's previous record of 31 latkes, set in 2006.

Brooklyn college student Will Millender took second place Sunday with 29 latkes.

The pancakes are a traditional treat for Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights. It started Sunday evening.

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Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com/

[Associated Press]

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