A 40-year-old street vendor from Ibague has been named the king of tamales, after beating the competition at the city’s annual tamale eating contest.
Pitted against 23 competitors, all hungry for the prize, Luis Fernando Gaviria came out top at Thursday’s competition, stuffing a mighty six tamales into his mouth in just five minutes.
The Ibague native said he employed no special technique or training for the competition. He was just a hungry guy.
“The truth is, I didn’t prepare. The only thing I did was not eat breakfast, but last night I ate normally,” said the competition winner, sipping on a post-contest beer.
Gaviria’s skillful munching of the starchy snack meant he walked away with a cash prize of $250 (COP500,000), leaving the other entrants green with envy… or perhaps it was indigestion.