Manny “The Manimal” Cambra is two for two.
Cambra, a Bethel resident, consumed a dozen paczkis — a massive Polish holiday donut with a fruit filling — in five minutes Tuesday (Feb. 17) morning to take top spot in the annual paczki-eating contest at Eddy’s Bake Shop.
Cambra said afterwards it was just the second competitive eating event he’s entered. But he’s won both — his prior victory came by virtue of eating more than six pounds of mac and cheese in Windsor last December.
“I eat 5,000 calories a day,” Cambra, a bodybuilder, said before Tuesday’s eat-down began.
The boast was not a hollow one.
After putting away a dozen paczkis in the next five minutes, Cambra said he felt great, but needed a nap.
“Talk to me in a half an hour, I might be asleep,” he said.
Tuesday’s contest was the 17th for Eddy’s, a family-owned bakery on Ansonia’s Main Street that is celebrating its 50th year in business.
Co-owner Paul Ciocca served as master of ceremonies.
The contest began after Ciocca read about the tradition of Polish-Americans making paczki for Fat Tuesday in a bakery trade magazine.
Paczkis are very large donuts, essentially. The Polish custom of making them on Fat Tuesday stems from the need to use up fat, eggs, and dairy products before the fasting and abstinence of Lent.
Click here for more background on Eddy’s and paczkis.
Ciocca announced before the bites began Tuesday that this year the business is participating in a fundraiser, “Sweets for Sydney,” to benefit research into Neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that took the life of the daughter of last year’s paczki-eating contest winner Marcus “Buff” Bartone.
A field of 10 men bellied up to the table to compete in Tuesday’s contest, though within seconds of Mayor David Cassetti starting the five-minute clock, it became clear that the competition would come down to a duel between Cambra and Bartone.
Click the play button on the video to see all the action.
When the donut powder had settled, Cambra was declared winner with a total of a dozen paczkis eaten, just one and a half less than the contest record, Ciocca said.
Bartone took second place.
Cambra received a $200 prize for his win.
But because he’s not an Ansonia resident, he was not awarded the title “mayor for a day,” a promotion Cassetti announced last week.
Instead, the mayor presented Cambra with a pin depicting the city’s seal and a congratulatory handshake.
Cambra said he heard about the contest from “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti, a Wallingford resident who dominated the Eddy’s contest for years but has not participated since 2013.
Cambra said Menchetti came in second place at the mac and cheese eating contest he won last year in Windsor, and suggested to Cambra he give paczkis a try.
Click here to visit the Facebook page for Eddy’s Bake Shop.
