Don Lerman
{{short description|American competitive eater}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Don Lerman
|image =
|caption =
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|3|22}}
|birth_place = Levittown, New York
|nationality = American
|other_names = Moses
|occupation = Competitive eater
}}
Don Lerman (born March 22, 1949) is an American retired competitive eater who set multiple records for eating butter, beans, bologna, and burgers. He has several nicknames, Moses, Don Lerman"All American" including "The Fastest Hands in Competitive Eating", "Gustoff Zhychick" or and "90-Year-Old Don Lerman."{{cite web|title=Lerman To Retire|url=http://www.competitiveeatingnews.com/newsarchive.php?action=detail&sn=48|work=Competitive Eating News|access-date=October 24, 2013}}
Life
Don Lerman was born in Brooklyn New York, in 1949.{{cite book|author1=Foer, Franklin|author2=Tracy, Marc|title=Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4OP_5zzOBNMC&pg=PT263|date=October 30, 2012|publisher=Grand Central Publishing|isbn=978-1-4555-1611-7|page=263}} As a child, Lerman ate nearly everything available.{{cite web|last=Marcus|first=Lilit|title=The Chomping Champion|url=http://www.ajlmagazine.com/content/012007/food.html|work=AJL Magazine|access-date=October 26, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192631/http://www.ajlmagazine.com/content/012007/food.html|archive-date=October 29, 2013|url-status=dead}} Before becoming a competitive eater, Lerman owned & operated his own day-old bread store.
In 2000, Lerman saw that a local Kosher Delicatessen holding a Matzah Ball Eating Contest and entered. He won that competition, and become "hooked" on eating contests. He scanned the internet for several eating contests, and attended several others regardless of the price.
Lerman has set several records. He ate seven quarter-pound sticks of salted butter in five minutes, a feat that was included on Bleacher Report's "Top 10 Unbreakable and Disgusting Competitive Eating ppRecords".{{cite web|last=Chavez|first=Christopher|title=Top 10 Unbreakable and Disgusting Competitive Eating Records|url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/415002-top-10-unbreakable-and-disgusting-competitive-eating-records/page/2|work=Bleacher Report|access-date=October 26, 2013}} Lerman has also eaten {{convert|6|lb}} of baked beans in one minute and 48 seconds, {{convert|2.76|lb}} of pork and chicken bologna in six minutes, and 11 burgers in ten minutes.{{cite web|title=Eater Profiles: Don Lerman|url=http://www.ifoce.com/rankings.php?action=detail&sn=13|work=Major League Eating|access-date=October 26, 2013}}
Lerman often attended eating events dressed as Moses,{{cite book|title=Yiddishe Mamas: The Truth About the Jewish Mother|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NyIun0ka0yYC&pg=PA258|date=January 1, 2009|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=978-0-7407-8889-5|pages=258–}} which was his persona of choice. Other costumes Lerman was known to dress up in included those of cowboys and gangsters.{{cite book|author=Ryan Nerz|title=Eat This Book: A Year of Gorging and Glory on the Competitive Eating Circuit|url=https://archive.org/details/eatthisbookyearo0000nerz|url-access=registration|date=April 4, 2006|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-1-4668-0232-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/eatthisbookyearo0000nerz/page/151 151]–}}
Lerman announced his retirement to spend more time with his dog. He continued to compete infrequently, however, he eventually permanently retired feeling he was unable to keep up with modern professional eaters.{{cite web|title=Speed Eaters Gain Weight, Clog Arteries But Have Few Regrets|url=http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/49894302.html|work=WCTV|access-date=October 26, 2013}} He is Jewish. Lerman is credited with inventing the "water method", where one drinks water to expand their stomach. Lerman stated that this allows for the stomach to hold more food.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Competitive eating}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerman, Don}}