Eddie Brown came into an unparalleled lettuce-eating contest at FoodFest with high hopes of snatching a second title — but this time, his crunch-time dreams were shredded by Jetta Derenoski, who blew the competition out of the water.
Twelve brave contestants faced off to see who could devour an entire head of iceberg lettuce the fastest in a timed event. Only Derenoski managed to finish hers entirely, leaving the rest of the field a little green around the edges.
Brown, who claimed his first victory in a corn-on-the-cob eating contest at a past Lions Labour Day Weekend Rodeo, was hoping to add another trophy to his shelf, but this time he had to settle for second place.
“I said, ‘I’ve got to try and get a number championship under my belt here, but Jetta was a fierce competitor. That was amazing — it’s way harder than I expected,” Brown said.
It was Jetta’s first-ever eating contest, and she was convinced to give it a try about five minutes before the event. Even before time expired, she was done — and mocking a neighbouring competitor and friend.
“At first, I was just pulling leaf by leaf, and I realized that wasn’t going to do it, so I split the lettuce in half, then just folded it like a taco and ate it,” Derenoski explained.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought, so I would consider coming back to defend my title — maybe next year.”
Sam Johnson, one of the youngest contestants, came dressed entirely in salad green for the occasion. He was no leafy novice, winning his heat and taking home a respectable third place overall — proving there’s plenty of fresh talent in the salad bowl.
“My strategy was to break it so I could put the whole thing in my mouth,” Johnson said.
“I looked at my water bottle and it’s covered in lettuce stuff. I didn’t know I was eating that much lettuce. After eating so much, I felt like I was going to vomit. You don’t think that when you're eating lettuce, you think that would happen after you eat a lot of hot dogs."
He’s not ready to commit to competing next year, but hasn’t ruled it out in a few years.
The lettuce-eating contest was one of the many highlights of this year’s FoodFest, which drew record crowds and more food trucks than ever before. There was live music, games, and plenty of vendors.
