A lettuce club is a student organization that holds events in which members compete to be the first to finish eating an entire head of lettuce. Originating at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, the phenomenon of lettuce clubs spread after being mentioned in a viral Tumblr post. [1]
A lettuce club at the University of Maryland, College Park was founded in 2017 and held two competitions that year before ceasing activity. Because the lettuce club had not been officially recognized by the university, Stamp Student Union declined to host further club events, contributing to the group's decline. [2]
A lettuce club was founded at the University of South Carolina in 2020 by a student in the school's Honors College, recruiting over 80 members in its first year of operation after gaining official recognition from the school, and holding one meeting per semester. The winner of the competition at a given meeting is named "Head of Lettuce" and charged with planning the next semester's meeting. [3]
Lettuce compete today with honor, glory, and most importantly a mild appetite for leafy vegetables. If we find ourselves growing weak, let the strength of the mighty iceberg carry us. Even if we do not win, we will be grateful for this little gem of a club and for those of us that will go on to compete in the future, we butter be prepared to toss salad once again.
– The Lettuce Creed as delivered by Jack Walsh, president of the lettuce club at the University of Minnesota [4]
A lettuce club at the University of Minnesota was holding two meetings per year as of 2021. For the club's fall 2021 competition, which was the subject of a documentary film by Barstool Sports, members were asked to bring their own lettuce; only iceberg lettuce was allowed, and only students with one semester remaining were allowed to participate. [4]
500g Iceberg is regulation. Do not bring a cabbage.
– Arielle Lok, Founder of McGill University's Lettuce Club [5]
A lettuce club was founded at McGill University in 2021, with the first meeting drawing more than 150 attendees. Competitors were required to bring their own head of iceberg lettuce weighing no less than 500 grams (18 oz). The 2021 winner finished his lettuce in three minutes and 45 seconds, and was placed in charge of planning the next meeting in his role as "Head of Lettuce". [6] Subsequent meetings were successfully hosted in 2022, 2023, and 2024 with a modified ruleset (increasing from 500g to 600g), drawing more than 200 attendees each year. The 2022 winner finished his lettuce in a minute and 54 seconds. [7] The 2023 winner finished his lettuce in 2 minutes and ~10 seconds. [8] The 2024 winner finished his lettuce in 2 minutes and 58 seconds. [9] The McGill Lettuce Club is still active.
At the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, where the first lettuce club originated, the lettuce for competitions is purchased from Walmart; the first contestant to finish eating their head of lettuce is named "Head Lettuce" and awarded a championship belt. [10]
A lettuce club was founded at Heritage High School in Frisco, Texas in 2017, inspired by a post one of the founders saw on Twitter about lettuce clubs elsewhere. As of 2018, the club held its annual competitions at the end of each school year. The winner of a competition became the club's new president. At the 2018 competition, music from the 1980s including "Eye of the Tiger" was played during the competition. [11]
Lettuce is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps; it can also be grilled. One variety, celtuce, is grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked. In addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption. Europe and North America originally dominated the market for lettuce, but by the late 20th century the consumption of lettuce had spread throughout the world. As of 2021, world production of lettuce and chicory was 27 million tonnes, 53 percent of which came from China.
Macalester College is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution with an enrollment of 2,142 students in the fall of 2023. The college has Scottish roots and emphasizes internationalism and multiculturalism.
The Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) is a two-year residential early entrance college program serving approximately 375 high school juniors and seniors at the University of North Texas. Students are admitted from every region of the state through a selective admissions process. TAMS is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology.
The Queen's Gaels is the athletics program representing Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The main athletics facilities include Richardson Memorial Stadium, the Queen's Athletics and Recreation Centre, Nixon Field and Tindall Field. The team colours are gold, blue, and red.
The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston, Maine, United States. It is the southernmost of the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universities, Gorham Normal School and Portland University. The two universities, later known as Gorham State College and the University of Maine at Portland, were combined in 1970 to help streamline the public university system in Maine and eventually expanded by adding the Lewiston campus in 1988.
Hamline University is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline of the United Methodist Church. As of 2017, Hamline had 2,117 undergraduate students and 1,668 graduate students.
Rockhurst High School is a private, Jesuit, all-boys preparatory school founded in 1910 along with Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It moved away from the College in 1962 to a campus on State Line Road in Kansas City.
The Bishop's School is an independent college preparatory Episcopal day school in La Jolla, a community in San Diego, California. Bishop's is known for its reputation in academics, arts, and athletics, as well as its sizable endowment. The school offers courses for students in the sixth through twelfth grades and has an 8:1 student-teacher ratio.
Graceland University is a private university with campuses in Lamoni, Iowa, and Independence, Missouri. The university offers degree completion and master's degree programs. It also offers undergraduate and graduate programs online. The university was founded in 1895. Graceland was established by, and is affiliated with, the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The University of Maine at Machias is a satellite campus in Machias, Maine. It is part of the University of Maine System, and it is the only regional degree-granting campus of University of Maine. The institution was founded in 1909 as a normal school for educating teachers. Enrollment is 760 students.
Centennial High School is a public high school located in Blaine, Minnesota, United States. The mailing address uses the Circle Pines, Minnesota Post office. The school services students in the 9th through 12th grade in the cities of Lexington, Blaine, Centerville, Lino Lakes and Circle Pines, as part of the Centennial School District.
The University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis is a private university focused on the health sciences that is located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1864 as the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. The university includes St. Louis College of Pharmacy, the third-oldest and tenth-largest college of pharmacy in the United States, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Global Population Health, the College of Graduate Studies. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The Desautels Faculty of Management is a faculty of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The faculty offers a range of undergraduate and graduate-level business programs, including the Bachelor of Commerce, Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Philosophy in management degrees. The Faculty of Management also offers a joint MBA/Law program with McGill's Faculty of Law.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. They are members of the Big Ten Conference and compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ice hockey. The Golden Gophers are one of the most prominent and storied programs in college hockey, having made 41 NCAA Tournament appearances and 23 trips to the Frozen Four. They have won five NCAA national championships, in 1974, 1976, 1979, 2002 and 2003. The team also shared the 1929 National Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship with Yale, and captured the national Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championship for amateur hockey in 1940.
McGill University is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter, the university bears the name of James McGill, a Scottish merchant, whose bequest in 1813 established the University of McGill College. In 1885, the name was officially changed to McGill University.
Cape Elizabeth High School (CEHS) is a public high school in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, United States. It is one of six schools in Maine to have been named a National Blue Ribbon School multiple times by the U.S. Department of Education.
Yale University women's ice hockey (YWIH) is an NCAA Division I varsity ice hockey program at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Hassan Mead is a Somali-American long-distance runner. He was a cross country and track athlete for the University of Minnesota. An eight-time All-American in his Minnesota career, four in cross country and five in track.
South High School, or simply South, is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A member of the Minneapolis Public Schools district, it is Minneapolis' oldest and largest public high school.
On 14 October 2022, the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Star began a livestream of an iceberg lettuce next to a framed photograph of Liz Truss, who was appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom the previous month. This act followed an opinion piece in The Economist that compared the expected brevity of Truss's premiership to the shelf life of a head of lettuce, with the October 2022 United Kingdom government crisis occurring weeks into her tenure and leading many political commentators to opine that Truss's resignation was imminent. She announced her resignation as prime minister on 20 October 2022, before the lettuce had wilted; the Daily Star subsequently declared the lettuce "victorious" over Truss.