She slurped down 5 Thai boat noodle bowls in 17 minutes. YouTube eater hits Fresno restaurants

Tried any food eating challenges in Fresno that seem impossible to complete?

It’s very likely competitive eater and popular Youtuber Raina Huang already beat it.

And by the looks of her, you might not have suspected the 5-foot-7, 131-pound Huang to bring such an appetite.

In her latest food conquest in Fresno, Huang, 26, scarfed down five large soup bowls of Thai boat noodles from Lotus Kitchen in 17 minutes.

That’s 7 1/2 pounds of broth alone (each bowl contains 24 ounces).

Not to mention the noodles, vegetables and beef balls that come with each soup.

Plus, the key ingredient that gives Thai boat noodle bowls a bit more thickness and a darker color compared to other soups: pork blood.

“I didn’t know what actually was Thai boat noodles before,” said Huang, a Southern California native who visited Fresno last week. “It was definitely an experience. I usually don’t eat exotic foods like that.

“Once I got there and saw all of the bowls and all the people who were there to watch and cheer me on, I had to go for it.”

Lotus Kitchen, an Asian-Cajun restaurant located near Cedar and McKinley avenues, doesn’t typically hold a Thai boat noodle bowl challenge.

For this occasion, the restaurant sent Huang a special invitation to try out its Thai boat noodles in hopes of gaining some social media exposure.

“She has a lot of fans,” Lotus Kitchen owner Kan Nguyen said. “Everybody knows about pho and udon stuff. Not too many people know about Thai boat noodles.

“It’s different. A little sour, a little sweet, a little spicy.”

Huang, who has been doing various food challenges for the past three years, happily accepted the Lotus Kitchen invitation.

She’d previously come to the Fresno area for a pancake challenge at Batter Up, a burrito challenge at Taqueria Yarelis, a pho challenge at Legendary Pho Restaurant and a burgers and fries challenge at Grill Masters BBQ.

Huang documents her food challenges on her YouTube page, which has roughly 455,000 subscribers. She also has 1.7 million followers on TikTok and about 230,000 on Instagram.

An aspiring actress and model, Huang became a professional food eater/social media eater to gain a spotlight after realizing she could establish her own video niche. There are very few other eating videos on social media that provide the perspective of an Asian-American female.

Some of Huang’s food takedowns have gone viral, including when she ate seven pounds of pho in 23 minutes at the Pho Ha #7 restaurant in Riverside, and finished off 10 pounds of seafood boil in less than 40 minutes at The Crab Shack in La Habra.

“I grew up eating a lot of food in general,” Huang said. “I thought the amount of food that I ate was pretty normal.

“I realize that wasn’t the case until later. Then I found out restaurants would give me food for free for eating a lot. So I stuck with it.”

Among her Fresno food challenges, Huang had to eat six pancakes, 10 eggs, two cups of cheese, two cups of potatoes, and four cups of toppings mix-ins among her choices of bacon, sausage, ham, sautéed spinach, sautéed mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, jalapeños or tomatoes) during her Batter Up visit.

She had a time limit of 45 minutes to complete the “Grand Slam Challenge” but was done in 18 minutes, 22 seconds.

“That was a lot of food, and I struggled but finished it,” Huang said. “I kind of zone out when I’m eating to eat a lot.

“It’s like a sport to me. You eat. You attack. You don’t think about anything except ‘I got to get this done.’”

In the burrito challenge, Huang was presented a three-pound burrito.

She not only planned to eat it all, Huang wanted to set a record time for finishing the anaconda. And she did, gorging on the carnitas burrito that usually feeds 5 to 6 people in a restaurant record time of 10:48.

“It’s not always about how much you can eat, but how fast you can eat, too,” she said.

In her Fresno pho challenge, Huang had to eat 2.5 pounds of noodles and 2 pounds of meat within one hour. She did not have to finish all of the broth.

When she was done, Huang had completed the challenge in less than 15 minutes.

And for the burgers and fries challenge, Huang mastered that in 20:28.

“I do feel the effects (of eating a lot), but I’m just used to the process,” Huang said. “Generally, I’ll be tired for a bit after eating. It’s like how you’d feel after a huge holiday meal.

“But I don’t go into a deep food coma.”

Huang said her trick to scarfing down a lot of food but maintaining her physique is running a 5K every day, followed by an hour of walking.

There are some dangers of competitive eating.

Just two years ago, a man died after participating in an amateur taco eating contest held during a minor league baseball game in Fresno. He ended up choking in the middle of the eating contest.

There are other dangers of eating a lot in a short amount of time, too.

Huang suggests that anyone interested in becoming a professional eater should gradually build up your stomach capacity.

“Take it slow so you don’t harm yourself,” Huang said. “You have to train yourself, train your stomach. I’ve heard of people tearing their stomach.”

Because being a professional eater isn’t just about having a large appetite.

It’s about having the heart as much as it is about having the stomach.

“It’s hard work being a pro eater,” Huang said. “You definitely have to love food and love to eat, but also put in the time to work out and stay in shape.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.