Sonya Thomas is thin. At 5 feet 5 inches and 99 pounds, the Alexandria, Va., resident is one of those people about whom you think, "She must eat like a bird." And, in fact, she does, but only because birds supposedly eat twice their body weight in food.

Not surprisingly, her name notwithstanding, Thomas is Korean. Have you ever gone out for Korean BBQ? How did you feel when you left the table? Full? I thought so. (I once asked a Korean friend whether her parents approved of her white boyfriend (now husband), and she sighed and said, "Well, he's a good eater, so that was good.")

Thomas, South Korean born, 37 years old and single, is the No. 1 competitive eater in the United States. She is ranked second in the world, with 22 world titles, and regularly outeats men four and five times her size in contests held throughout the year, earning the self-appointed moniker the Black Widow."

For those unfamiliar with this sport, competitive eating is just what it sounds like: Contestants sit down in front of a huge pile of baked beans or matzo balls or pulled-pork sandwiches, the timer starts and they eat as much as they can, as fast as they can, until the time is up.

Lest you think this is some cheesy county-fair sideshow, know that competitive eating has become a hugely popular sport (a designation some observers object to) with its own governing body, the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE).

The number of contests has grown from 12 eating events in 1997 to more than 100 last year, 20,000 people show up to watch the Wingbowl each year and Nathan's Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Championship, the Super Bowl of competitive eating, appeared on the Jumbotron in Times Square last year. According to Richard Shea of the IFOCE, competitive eating is the fastest-growing sport in the world.

In 2002, Fox aired a two-hour prime time television special called "The Glutton Bowl," in which food was dropped from a trash can on a platform into a huge bowl 20 feet below. The world's top eaters gorged on a lip-smacking smorgasbord of delicacies, including mayonnaise, butter and cow tongue.

Competitive eating has spawned its own celebrities as well. The No. 1 eater in the world, Takeru "the Tsunami" Kobayashi, won the last Nathan's contest by eating 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes, doubling the previous record. The 5-foot-7-inch, 145-pound Kobayashi also blew away the elephantine competition on "The Glutton Bowl" by outscarfing them and wrapping up the proceedings by slurping down 50-plus cow brains.

The diminutive Thomas is second in the world only to the similarly slender gobblemeister, the latest and greatest in a tradition of Japanese eaters who pose an ever increasing challenge to American eating supremacy. (The Coney Island title went to a Japanese eater in 1997, and the Japanese have owned it ever since).

On the IFOCE Web site is a proclamation: "There is an century-old prophecy within the competitive-eating community, dismissed by most, that foretells the rise of the One Eater, a woman who will electrify America's gurgitators and lead them to international victory once again. Like Joan of Arc before her, this eater will be slender of stature but mighty in strength. In recent months, the prophecy has been mentioned more and more frequently as the eaters have watched Sonya Thomas excel in nearly every contest she enters."

As the summer season approaches for Nathan's qualifiers -- smaller regional hot-dog-eating contests whose winners qualify to compete in the championships on July 4 and take a crack at winning the coveted mustard belt -- those who care about these sorts of things may be wondering whether Kobayashi will retain his title, and maybe a few will also wonder whether the teeny-tiny Thomas could do the seemingly impossible and bring gluttonous glory back to the U.S.A.

Her record speaks for itself. Some of Thomas's recent accomplishments include:

-- March 20, 2005 -- 46 dozen (552) oysters in 10 minutes. -- Feb. 12, 2005 -- 25 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes. -- Jan. 22, 2005 -- one 9-pound burger with cheese in 48 minutes, 10 seconds. -- Nov. 27, 2004 -- 52 hard-boiled eggs in five minutes. - Sept. 29, 2004 -- 48 soft-shell chicken tacos in 11 minutes. - Sept. 5, 2004 -- 5.09 pounds of buffalo wings (162 wings) in 12 minutes -- Aug. 21, 2004 -- 9.76 pounds of lobster meat (38 soft-shell lobsters) in 12 minutes. -- July 4, 2004 -- 32 Nathan's hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, a new women's world record (and American record)

How It All Began

Thomas, who grew up poor in South Korea, was born competitive. "I hate to lose," she said. "I hate to lose." Thomas moved to the United States in 1997 and settled in Alexandria. Back then, she had little else in her life besides a job, and her spirit continued to, well, hunger for more. It was so bad, Thomas said, that she became depressed and even considered suicide. But everything changed in 2002, when, on television one day, she saw Nathan's Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Championship. She knew in a split second it was for her. "It was my dream, " she said. "I just wanted to be there. They looked like celebrities because they were on TV eating."

To get there, she had to win a qualifying regional contest. But Thomas had no experience with eating fast, and she didn't normally eat hot dogs, so she bought two from 7-Eleven and set a timer. One minute passed, and she was still on her first dog. "Oh, my God. Yes, one minute," she said. "That was Christmastime, Christmas Day 2002. I say, 'I can't finish one hot dog in one minute. How can I be there?'

"And then I give up," she continued. "'OK,' I say, 'I'm not going to try. If I cannot do well, then there's no point in losing. I don't like to lose.'" But she watched the video of the contest again. "And then I saw Takeru Kobayashi -- No. 1 in the world. When I look at him, he's so small, like me, and look at him -- he's a human being. He's human. Why can't I?" A month later, she decided to give it another try. She ate 15 hot dogs in 12 minutes and thought, "OK, now I'm ready."

Thomas entered the Molly Pitcher Qualifier in New Jersey. Jason "Crazy Legs" Conti (ranked 17th in the United States), who also competed that day, remembers her appearance. "I did not notice the petite Korean-American woman patiently waiting for the contest to begin. No one else noticed her, either," he wrote in Topic magazine. "And then this tiny, tiny woman named Sonya Thomas delicately put away her 18th hot dog and bun, smiled and won."

Thomas said, "That first eating contest, I was nervous, but I won that one -- 18 hot dogs with bun in 12 minutes."

Winning the qualifier meant she was eligible for the big show: Nathan's. Conti wrote, "On the Fourth of July, 2003, Sonya appeared nervous. This, the ultimate eating extravaganza, was only her second contest. I don't think anyone knew what to expect of the Tinkerbell-size lady sandwiched between two 400-pound men. Sonya looked like she would be more at home at a beauty pageant than at an all-you-can-eat event.

"With a dazzling smile and demure wave, she calmly and neatly ate 25 hot dogs and buns, placing fourth and setting a new female record," he concluded.

Thomas simply said, "Then I move up. One week later, I ate 25. Like moving up, you know. Improve myself. Every time, I just improve myself."

The Regimen

The eating technique various so-called gurgitators use is a source of much speculation. Some competitive eaters religiously watch videos of Kobayashi to analyze his style so they can improve theirs. One secret to fast hot dog eating is dunking the bun so it's easier to swallow and you don't need to spend time drinking water from a cup between bites. The hot dogs can't go down whole, either. "You have to chew a little, because if you don't chew it, you can choke," said Thomas. (Apparently, Kobayashi swears by the "Solomon approach," breaking hot dogs and buns in half first.) "You have to have a strong jaw, too," said Thomas. "It gets tired, your jaw."

You also want to guard against the involuntary act that can shame you and get you disqualified from an event, variously known as a "reversal of fortune," a "Roman incident," "urges contrary to swallowing" or, more commonly, throwing up. According to Thomas, people tend to vomit because they're eating so fast, they're not paying attention. "You have to try to get time for burps, and belching, to make yourself comfortable, and then you can continue to do it," she said.

Many observers subscribe to Ed Krachie's "belt of fat" theory, which states that thin people have an advantage because abdominal fat can inhibit stomach expansion. In 1998, competitive eater Krachie wrote a journal article -- rejected, not surprisingly, by many scientific journals in the United States and Canada -- called "Can Abdominal Fat Act as a Restrictive Agent on Stomach Expansion? An Exploration of the Impact of Adipose Tissue on Competitive Eating."

Suffice it to say that the very top eaters are slim but the majority of players are gargantuan folks used to packing away whole chickens and cakes and demolishing all-you-can-eat buffets with a great deal of pleasure and a modicum of pride as well.

As for pre-event training, Kobayashi supposedly shrinks his stomach by running, then expands it with cabbage and water to teach the organ to distend. He is also said to eat only one huge multihour meal a day.

Thomas follows a similar regimen. According to her, when she lived in Korea, she was heavier than she is now by 30 pounds, all due to her diet and her job as a typist: "I never move my body." And she ate all day. "I don't drink any water, I just eat lots of junk food, like snacks all the time," Thomas recalled. "I don't eat meals. When I go to eat a meal, I eat a little bit, not much. But I was constantly eating snacks."

Nowadays, Thomas' routine couldn't be more different from her habits of old. Every day, she hits the treadmill for 1 1/2 hours. "Walking fast on incline, high incline," she said. "Before work. Never after work. I'm too tired."

She eats only one meal a day, from 6 to 9 p.m., generally at her beloved Burger King. A normal meal for her? "Chicken Whopper, grilled chicken, right?" she said. "Without mayonnaise. I don't eat mayonnaise. I don't eat any fatty things."

Is that because you don't want to gain weight?

"Yes, I have to watch out, too, right?"

Really?! You're 99 pounds.

"Oh, no! Even though you're 99 pounds, you have to watch out because if you have a habit of putting on mayonnaise all the time, then you have to have that. So I have to say to myself, 'Anytime I eat a sandwich, I don't want to eat mayonnaise, but I want ketchup, or mustard.'"

She does allow herself some leeway: "But one thing, OK? One thing, I love Burger King french fries. I love it. I cannot skip my fries. I have to eat them every day. Really. I eat large french fries with that Chicken Whopper. Every day. And then a five-piece Chicken Tenders. And then I drink 42-ounce -- Burger King king-size cups -- Diet Cokes, about three, with my meal."

Do you think this is healthy?

"That's my style."

You feel good, though? You feel healthy?

"Yeah, I feel good. Really."

The Circuit

So, does Thomas pal around with all the other eaters she competes against -- big guys four times her size with names like Bill "El Wingador" Simmons, Eric "Badlands" Booker and Dale "Mouth o' the South" Boone? She claims she's not a social person. "I don't like it -- too boring for me," she said. "Me is always my way. I want to do it my way. I'm very selfish; I'm very stubborn. That's my personality."

Her way, however, appears to be working quite well for her. Thomas' appetite is legendary. And she works it. After the lobster-eating contest, in which she blew away reigning champ Kevin "the Boss" Cross in his home state of Maine by eating 9.76 pounds of lobsters (38 of them), she was asked whether she could eat more and she replied, "Yes, but something else -- not a lobster." After winning the first Turducken eating championship, scarfing eight plates of chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey in 12 minutes, she remarked, "I don't really like turkey, but this was so good that I could eat more." And radio personality Drew Garabo of WTKS, in Orlando, Fla., chronicles how Thomas went head to head on-air with his producer and an unnamed listener in a quesadilla-eating contest. Thomas blew them both out of the water by eating 31 1/2 quesadillas in five minutes. Then she settled into the interview with a large bucket of popcorn. Remember, she weighs 99 pounds.

But putting it away isn't always a piece of cake for her. She won one contest by eating 11 pounds of cheesecake with coffee on an empty stomach in nine minutes. "Oh, my God, I was so sick!" she said. (By her own admission, she did end up suffering a reversal of fortune after this one -- the only time ever.)

But the hardest was the recent Big Daddy Barrick Burger contest, hosted by Las Vegas' Plaza Hotel, which she won by eating a 9-pound burger in 48 minutes. Thomas said it was the toughest because of the quantity of food. Now, 46 dozen oysters may seem like a larger amount, but, according to Thomas, the burger was much harder because she ate the bun first, dunking it in water, according to her usual style. Big mistake. After about a pitcherful of water, she still had to eat the meat itself (more than 7 pounds). She said that the combined weight of food and water is probably 17 or 18 pounds.

"After I eat that burger, my stomach has no room," she said. "After every other eating contest, I still have room, I still can drink water, I still can eat ice cream. Even though I ate 46 Crystal burgers in eight minutes, afterward, I went to the food court, I ate Chinese food. Because I had more room." Next year, with the Barrick Burger, she said, "Meat first, bun later."

The best thing Thomas ever ate? "Oh, man, oysters and chicken wings," she said. "Oysters. Easy to eat, and I like them. Chicken wings are so much fun, and I like them, too. But my favorite thing, I think, is hard-boiled eggs."

Ooh, that would be hard.

"Oh, no, it's not hard. Easy for me. Other people cannot do it. Only me."

Why do you think that is?

"Think about this -- 65 hard-boiled eggs in six minutes and 40 seconds. Do you think other people can do it? They don't want to try. No."

What's your secret?

"I think I love to eat eggs. OK, here's my technique: I bite a little bite, one or two bites, and drink water, drink a little bit. Zip, you know? And constantly do it. So easy for me. I think that's my specialty. Hard-boiled eggs is my specialty."

The Future

Sonya Thomas doesn't live by gluttony alone. She still works full time as a manager for Burger King, even though she is the highest earner in the U.S. eating community. "Right now, I'm good. I'm good at making money," she said. "It's OK, but not enough for a living." And she says she'd do it even if no money were involved. "I love doing it because I can win," Thomas added. "That's my hobby. Makes me happy."

Besides, she loves her job too much to quit. "You know why I work fast food?" she said. "I want to be the best manager, too. When I'm working, I work so fast, nobody can beat me." Her allegiance to Burger King is the stuff a corporate ad exec dreams about. "I love working at Burger King," she added. "I don't like McDonald's food. No way. I love Burger King food."

So, what are her goals? "My first goal is, I want to have my own Burger King, just one store," Thomas said. "I really want it. I can do it." She thinks it'll take her 10 years to save up enough money -- a half million dollars in cash and a million more for the property to buy one franchise. Her second goal is to be the No. 1 eater in the world: She wants to beat Takeru Kobayashi. "I have to practice," she said. "I have to practice more technique. Then. I don't know."

Thomas thinks she has a chance in a short contest like an eight- to 10-minute one because then she can focus on technique. "See, if I swallow fast, then I can compete with him," she said. "But my swallow is not fast enough, that's the only thing. And stomach capacity -- he can stretch his stomach so big, 5 pounds, 20 pounds. He can handle that, his stomach, but me? I don't think so."

You can bet she'll put every ounce of steely determination she has into trying, though. "Koreans care about winning," she told me. "Korean people, their mind. Do you see that? In all sports, they try to be the top one. They care only about top one; they don't care about second one, third one. You know, it's Korean style. That's why I learned that, too. In my life, I have to be top one -- you know, that's me. I cannot take second place, third place."

She might be Korean in spirit, but Thomas loves living in America. "Yeah, I love it," she said. "More freedom. You can do anything you want. In America, there's so much freedom. I like it."

Her Web site says it all: "And beneath what you may see on the surface, know this: My Yankee Doodle Dandy heart proudly pumps red, white and blue blood to the beat of "God Bless America." One day ... one day!"

One day? Could that one day be July 4? If so, Takeru Kobayashi had best beware.

God Bless America, indeed.