Are you brave enough to eat your way to a poutine world championship?

Poutine lovers can eat until their heart’s content on Saturday in Ann Arbor while trying to land a chance to compete on a world stage.

Teams of poutine lovers and speed eaters will visit Smoke’s Poutinerie at 1300 S. University to partake in a series of poutine challenges.

Poutine – a dish that on its most basic level consists of French fries, cheese curds and gravy – is a popular Canadian tradition.

One lucky two-person team in Saturday's Ann Arbor contest will be flown to Toronto on an all-expenses paid trip to compete in the Eighth Annual Smoke’s Poutinerie World Poutine Eating Championship amateur eat-off, scheduled for Oct. 14.

In all, 12 pairs of winners across North America will compete in the Toronto amateur challenge, and the Ann Arbor duo will face a team from Philadelphia to represent the U.S. East Coast.

The other region is the U.S. West Coast (Berkeley and Hollywood), East Coast Canada (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick), West Coast Canada (British Columbia), Central Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan) and Ontario.

The Poutine Eating contest is the second-largest eating contest in the world, with 20,000 attendees expected this year.

Besides slurping down poutine, contestants at the Ann Arbor competition can try out other fun and games, such as Frenga (Fry-Jenga), Poutine Pictionary: Paint by Gravy and Pong: Curd Tossing Fun.

Teams can sign up in-store and are encouraged to come up with a jazzy team name.

For information, potential eaters can call 416-596-2798 or 647-449-8844.