[UPDATE - Reports of Kobayashi's bow-out from the contest are likely premature]

It ain't pretty, but it's become an Independence Day fixture. Nearly every year since 1916, the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest has drawn gustatory gladiators from around the globe to compete for the coveted Mustard Yellow Belt and gagging bragging rights awarded the trencherman who can jam the most dogs and buns down his or her gullet.

Reigning champion Joey Chesnut talks shoveling strategy, his rival Takeru Kobayashi's contract-based bow-out (Editor's note – he shares our suspicion that it's all a psych-out/hype stunt) and the art of staying svelte amidst caloric Armageddon.

(Oh and – Eatocracy pals Kristyn Pomranz and Katherine Steinberg's 'Hot Dogs: The Competitive Eating Musical' is set to hit Off-Off-Broadway stages in the late summer/early fall. Totally worth a trip to NYC, we think.)

In the small rural town of Port Sulphur, Louisiana, fishing is a way of life. Its residents - many of them third-generation fishermen - are becoming more and more frustrated by the pace of the clean-up effort in the Gulf.

CNN political analyst Roland S. Martin weighs in on the devastation of the BP oil catastrophe.

He writes: "The bottom line: No fishing; no money; no life."

Read the FULL STORY.

Eatcyclopedia is our ever-expanding glossary of food terms, and we'll be highlighting a term from it each weekday. The entries include definitions and, where applicable, pronunciations and country of origin - all spelling bee competitor style. Want us this use it in a sentence? Okay, here goes.

Use: My friend Miss Ellen liked to start soaking the collards three days before the big meal because they're often so tough, but I just take out the center rib and cut them into ribbons.

Read the full entry for "collards / collard greens."

Got a term you'd like defined? Tell us in the comments and we'll do our best to add it to the glossary.

While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday and the most delicious finds on TV.

If you appreciate the pungent flavor bombs of black jelly beans, black licorice, fennel or Sambuca - today is your day.

July 2 is National Anisette Day - anisette being the colorless, very sweet liqueur flavored with the distinctively licorice-y taste of anise seed.

What's on TV?

FULL POST