Downtown Tomorrow: How to Win an Ice Cream Eating Contest

Can you dive head first into a plate of ice cream and come up having eaten the most, the fastest?

This Saturday is your chance to find out.

The New Jersey Ice Cream Festival in downtown Toms River will feature ice cream eating competitions. There's versions for the kids as well as the adults. Who do you think eats ice cream faster?

In previous years it's been a hands-behind-back, head first competition. You line up to a plate and each as much as you can.

How exactly can you cement your melting victory in competitive ice cream eating?

Champion competitive eater — who held the Guinness Record for Most Ice Cream Eaten in 30 Seconds — Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti told Turkey Hill Ice Cream Journal that the secret might be warm water:

“As far as eating it fast I would suggest using a warm or hot liquid to aid in faster consumption.  Stirring the ice cream up so it’s not rock hard also helps.  I don’t suffer from brain freeze but have heard that flipping the spoon upside down protects you from the dreaded after effects (more like using your tongue to scrape the ice cream off the spoon and keeping the spoon in between the ice cream and the roof of your mouth).  I hope this helps!”

Armed with this information, best of luck to all the competitors this weekend.

Of course, the is among the ice cream vendors themselves, as the event will feature 20 different flavors from around the state, competiting for the People's Choice and Special Judges Choice categories.

If you just want to eat a little ice cream and sample all the flavors, you can buy a tasting kit and be among the judges for People's Choice.

For more information, visit or the Downtown Toms River website.