world poutine championships toronto

Someone ate 20 pounds of poutine in Toronto this weekend

One man, 10 minutes, and 20.5 lbs of gravy-soaked, curd-laden french fries.

That's all it took to win the world's largest poutine eating competition at Yonge-Dundas Square this weekend — and by "that's all" I mean "an astounding feat of human gastronomy."

Professional eater Carmen Cincotti, who came in second at the same event last year, won first place at the 8th annual Smoke’s Poutinerie World Poutine Eating Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The New Jersey-based champ wasn't able to best his numbers from 2016's competition, when he downed a whopping 25 lbs in 10 minutes, but he still came out way ahead of the competition with 40.5 boxes (literally) under his belt.

Second-place winner Darron Breeden managed to eat 15.5 lbs this year, and Gideon Oji came in third with 13.75 lbs of poutine.

It's worth mentioning, however, that all three of 2017's trophy winners would have blown everyone away just five years ago, when the winning number of poutine pounds was just 9.5.

A post shared by John Garbutt (@flairboy14) on

Official results aside, every poutine-loving person at Yonge-Dundas Square felt like a winner during the event thanks to an abundance of free, unlimited poutine from Smoke's.

A post shared by raachel (@raychelng) on

The championship also featured a KISS cover band, a photo booth, and, of course, lots of free poutine guy stickers.

Overall, the event raised more than $50,000 for We Care – a charity that helps send kids with disabilities to Easter Seals camps.

So you see, stuffing one's face with poutine can be an act of generosity.

Lead photo by

Smoke's Poutinerie


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in Eat & Drink

40 essential bubble tea in Toronto you need to try at least once

Someone created a guide to where to buy groceries in Toronto instead of No Frills

Here's what's opening in the old Brickworks Ciderhouse space in Toronto

Food prices are so high that many Canadians are eating stuff past best-before dates

Huge lineup of people looking to apply at restaurant shows reality of Toronto job market

One of Toronto's most-hyped steakhouses will be leaving longtime location

Grocery store is permanently closing all Toronto locations

Family compares cost of a week's worth of groceries in Malaysia vs. Canada