World-famous competitive eater to tackle 28 lbs of poutine at Toronto food festival

World-famous competitive-eating icon Joey Chestnut will make an appearance at a Toronto food festival next month to defend an — admittedly nauseating — poutine-consumption record.

The dog days of summer come with some of the city's most hotly anticipated annual events: the CNE and TIFF, for example. For those passionate about what is perhaps Canada's most ubiquitous culinary export, though, it's all about Smoke-A-Palooza.

The annual, one-day celebration of all things poutine, held by Smoke's Poutinerie, has become, for the poutine-a-files of the city, a yearly highlight, marked by 12 straight hours of free poutine for attendees, non-stop 80s rock and, perhaps the festival's most infamous element, the  Smoke's Poutinerie World Poutine Eating Championship (WPEC).

The largest (and maybe only?) poutine-eating championship in the world, the competition has drawn some seriously big names in the competitive-eating sphere over the years, including, most notably, the one and only Joey Chestnut.

The world champion, recognized as first in the world by Major League Eating, holds 55 world titles, including the current first-place WPEC title from last year's event, where Chestnut put away an astounding 26.5 lbs of poutine in 10 minutes.

As shocking as his 2025 results were, though, that's not the best Chestnut has done in his numerous appearances at the competition. In 2019, Chestnut broke his previous record by consuming 28 lbs in the same time frame, earning what was then his seventh WPEC first-place title.

Now, he's coming back to the city for Smoke-A-Palooza 2026 in a bid to beat his 2019 record, attempting to demolish 28 lbs (or more) of poutine in the time the rest of us spend getting some extra shut-eye between snoozed alarms in the morning.

Will Chestnut be able to beat his record and secure his title as the undisputed cheese curd champion of Toronto? We'll have to wait until September to see.

Smoke-A-Palooza will take place at Sankofa Square on Saturday, Sept. 19 and, just like the poutine you'll be eating, entry is free. If you can't make it, don't worry: the World Poutine Eating Championship will also be live-streamed.