Photo by thehfo

Nothing screams “AMERICA!” more than shoveling massive amounts of greasy food down your gullet in as little time as possible, right?

Z-Burger has announced its fourth annual Independence Day Burger Eating Contest, set for July 3 at its Tenleytown location (4321 Wisconsin Avenue NW). The resulting indigestion might be severe, but the prizes aren’t too shabby:

Serious rewards await serious eaters. In addition to custom-made trophies and bragging rights, Z-Burger will give away almost $5000 worth of prizes! The prize breakdown is as follows: first- $1000 cash and $1000 Z-Burger tokens, second- $750 cash and $750 Z-Burger tokens and third- $500 cash and $500 Z-Burger tokens.

Anyone can apply to participate—you need to email zburgercontest@gmail.com—but you better be serious about eating—a lot. Last year’s contest saw two rivals accuse each other of being cheaters; three-time winner “Furious” Pete Czerwinski even has his own documentary about his gustatory feats. He’ll be a tough guy to beat—last year he took down 17 burgers, the year prior it was 23.

If anyone is up for taking on Czerwinski and his ilk, let us know. At this point, it’s not even about local pride, but rather good ol’ American patriotism. Czerwinski’s Canadian, after all.