State Spotlight: How North Carolina Became the Sport's Undisputed Capital

Ask a fan outside the Southeast to name a state associated with competitive pineapple eating and, five years into the sport's sanctioned history, they'll almost certainly say North Carolina. That's not marketing — it's a fair reading of the record book. The sport's founding apartment was in Charlotte. Its home regional event, the Southeast Regional Open, has been won by the same North Carolina competitor every single year. Two of the last five National Championships were also hosted there.

But North Carolina's depth goes beyond its one headline name. Raleigh's Grace Abubakar has finished on the Southeast Regional Open podium in multiple sanctioned years, most often chasing Michael Salomone. Wilmington's Felix Marchetti has climbed steadily into the region's top five. Neither has broken through nationally yet, but both are frequently cited by Council judges as future national-podium threats once Michael Salomone's era eventually ends.

For now, though, the story of North Carolina pineapple eating remains inseparable from one name. Salomone has never lost his home region, has represented it at every National Championship since the sport began, and is — by wins, by podiums, and by the Council's official point system — the highest-ranked competitor the state, or the country, has ever produced.