Raina Huang
Raina Huang | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1994 |
| Alma mater | UC Riverside |
| Occupations | |
Raina Huang (born in 1994[1] ) is an American competitive eater and Internet celebrity, known for eating large quantities of food despite her diminutive size.
Personal life[edit]
Raina comes from an Asian background;[1] in 2019, she was living with her parents in the small town of Walnut, California.[2]
Before turning to competitive eating, she attended UC Riverside, where she studied business. Her father works in information technology and she has a younger sister.[3]
She enjoys cooking elaborate dishes at home, saying that eating large meals are part of her Chinese heritage. She was also the first female chef for Benihana.[2] Outside of her online presence, she enjoys travelling, taking cross-country road trips by herself.[1]
When she isn't eating competitively, she exercises every morning (trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle), consuming mostly rice and vegetables.[1]
Competitive eating[edit]
Raina has said that her small size is an advantage when eating large quantities of food, explaining that too much abdominal fat prevents the stomach from expanding. Pho and ramen competitions are the easiest for her to do, due to her upbringing, saying Asian foods contain lots of vegetables. American junk food is more difficult to eat, saying she hates butter.[2]
Huang has been doing eating challenges since around 2017. She got the idea after being challenged to eat a four-pound burrito. As for her preparation, she explains that she fasts and exercises before a challenge, often not eating the day of. In 2022, it was reported that she was doing around 100 eating challenges a year.[4]
She posts videos of her eating challenges to various social media platforms, having approximately 2.9 million followers.[5]
In addition to humans, she has also competed against animals; one challenge seeing who could eat more salad, Huang or a giant rabbit. Huang handily won the competition, admitting that she rarely eats salad outside of competitions.[1][6]
She has faced some backlash over her efforts from businesses; she was kicked out of a Colorado pizzeria in 2019, the owner suspecting she was trying to "scam" the restaurant. The video of her being asked to leave was posted to her social media channels; despite the negative comments from the owner, she wished them well.[7]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Loftus, Jamie (February 22, 2022). "A 20-pound bunny. A competitive eater. Lots of salad. Who will win?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
- ^ a b c Hayden, Tyler (September 16, 2019). "Æbleskivers Fear Raina Huang". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
- ^ Do, Anh (December 30, 2019). "Embracing failures and successes, Asian American business network aims to reach 1 million members". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
- ^ Fearns, Nick (August 19, 2022). "Raina Huang unleashes beast mode on the Backroad Barbecue in Port Colborne to beat the Backroad Beast Feast". Port Colborne Leader. Port Colborne, Ontario. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
- ^ Hennes, Rebecca (August 12, 2021). "Social media influencer takes food challenge tour of Houston restaurants, dominates all of them". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
- ^ Devall, Allan; Ross, James (February 2, 2022). "Giant bunny loses in California salad-eating contest". Reuters. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
- ^ Sapienza, Brandon (June 2, 2021). "Competitive eater kicked out of Colorado pizzeria". New York Daily News. Retrieved August 28, 2023.