Not to be outdone by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship will host an Opening Ceremony today in downtown Chattanooga. The ceremony will start up at 1:00 pm EST with the official lighting of the Krystal Square Off Grill to signify the beginning of this year’s Krystal Square Off Qualifying Tour.

After the lighting, Chattanoogans are invited to join the first ever “Running of the Grill” down Chestnut Street, complete with a police escort, parade of vehicles with local dignitaries, the Krystal cycling team on bikes and a host of Krystal employees.

The procession will end down at the Riverfront, where Krystal’s VP of Marketing Brad Wahl and George Shea from Major League Eating will host a press conference to set the stage for this year’s competitive eating contest, and immediately afterwards, Chattanooga’s most popular news personalities will compete in a 2-minute Krystal burger eating contest.

Head over to our sister site, the Krystal Square Off Blog, to find out which media personalities are competing and for more details. They’ll also have updates throughout the day, including photos, video and more.

With the 2008 Olympics opening today in Beijing, we thought we’d share some interesting facts about what the athletes will be chowing down on while in China.

- According to The New York Times, for the first time, a shipment of California strawberries will be allowed into China.  The Chinese had previously banned any shipment of the fruit from abroad but lifted the restriction after requests from Olympic athletes.   According to the article, “this week the state sent 450 pounds of berries, the first of 35 or so shipments”.

- China Daily is reporting that about 9,000 bananas have been consumed in the dining hall of the Olympic Village with only 15,000 athletes having officially checked in thus far.  They also estimate 4,000 liters of cooking oil has been used and they are serving up three tons of rice each day.

- According to ABCNews, many athletes are concerned about the food in China as it commonly contains antibiotics, growth stimulants or steroids, which could produce a positive doping test.  As a result, the government has established “specific Olympic food producers” who have installed computerized tracking systems.  These devices can provide a complete history of every carrot and apple, “tracking its path from the farm to the athlete’s plate.”  Many athletes however, are still reportedly brown bagging it, not willing to take a chance.

Perhaps we should ship over some Steamer Packs of Krystal burgers?