Eaters Prep for Matzo Ball Eating Contest

The eating world is focused on The Ruthie & Gussie’s/Empire Kosher Matzo Ball-Eating Championship at the Friar’s Club in New York City, 57 E. 55th St., at 1 p.m. on April 20, 2005. (The media event is not open to the public.)

The Ruthie & Gussie's/ Empire Kosher Matzo Ball-Eating Championship, which is sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating, will showcase the greatest competitive eaters in America in a 10-minute, all-you-can-eat contest.

Eric “Badlands” Booker, Don Moses Lerman, Tim Eater X Janus, and Hungry Charles Hardy are expected to compete.

The event will feature matzo balls from the official “kvetch-proof” Ruthie & Gussie’s recipe cooked in chicken soup made with great tasting Empire Kosher chickens. While filling, the delicious matzo balls are considered light, delicate and fast by competitive eaters.

The eaters will be coached by real Jewish grandmothers from New York's critically acclaimed Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre, the world's oldest and best-known professional Yiddish theatre. The Folksbiene is now celebrating its 90th consecutive season, and will feature Mandy Patinkin at a benefit at Carnegie Hall on June 16.