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 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] [7] Another meeting was successfully hosted in 2022 with the same ruleset, drawing more than 200 attendees. The 2022 winner finished his lettuce in a minute and 54 seconds. [8]
A lettuce club was founded at Carleton University in 2020, with the first gathering occurring on Discord with the help of a Discord bot programmed for Lettuce purposes. The winner finished in 3 minutes and 28 seconds. The subsequent Lettuce Club (2021) was held in person and also served as a fundraiser for breast cancer, raising over $800 CAD.
Moreover, Engineering Society at the University of Waterloo also hosts their division of Lettuce Club. The competition runs 3 times a year, once every school term, with the winner earning the title of "Head Lettuce" and the responsibility to host the next competition. Competitors are encouraged to bring water, salad dressing, or anything else to complete the challenge, with the exception of power-tools, such as blenders. There are both competitive and non competitive leagues for this elite division of dedicated engineering students. In order to enter the competitive league, one must bring a lettuce weighing over 500 grams. Due to a lettuce shortage during COVID, the requirement has been reduced to 300g, but will soon return to 500g. UWaterloo scores their participants not on time but instead on the average Grams per Second (g/sec) they consume their lettuce at. Recently in Sept 2022, 1 member consumed 300g of lettuce in 1 min 46 sec, leading to the winning rate of 2.81 g/sec.
The University of Guelph formed a lettuce club in March 2024. Using the power of Instagram and Reddit, the first meeting acquired over 100 attendees, with majority participating [9] . One member mistakenly brought a cabbage to the meeting. Once someone finished their lettuce first, they ran to collect the cabbage from the middle of the circle. 2 other participants were very close behind, finishing within seconds. Guelph will see future lettuce club meetings in the future.
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]
Following the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, in March of 2021, a lettuce club was chartered at Hopewell Valley Central High School (HVCHS) in Pennington, New Jersey. The first lettuce eating competition was over zoom due to ongoing restrictions. The HVCHS Lettuce Club now meets in person [12] and remains active today. [13]
The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, the institution was initially an affiliated college of McGill University until 1915. From 1921 to 1963, it functioned as an affiliate of the University of British Columbia. In 1963, the institution was reorganized into an independent university.
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.
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically 3–12 kilometres (1.9–7.5 mi) long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road and minor obstacles. It is both an individual and a team sport; runners are judged on individual times and teams by a points-scoring method. Both men and women of all ages compete in cross country, which usually takes place during autumn and winter, and can include weather conditions of rain, sleet, snow or hail, and a wide range of temperatures.
The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) is a two-year, public residential high school with two physical campuses located in Durham, North Carolina and Morganton, North Carolina that focuses on the intensive study of science, mathematics and technology. It accepts rising juniors from across North Carolina and enrolls them through senior year. Although NCSSM is a public school, enrollment is extremely selective, and applicants undergo a competitive review process for admission. NCSSM is a founding member of the National Consortium of Secondary Stem Schools (NCSSS) and a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system.
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.
Competitive eating, or speed eating, is a sport in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions can last up to thirty minutes, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner. Competitive eating is most popular in the United States, Canada, and Japan, where organized professional eating contests often offer prizes, including cash.
Saint George's School is an independent K–12 college preparatory school located in Spokane, Washington. The campus is located on 120 acres (0.49 km2) along the Little Spokane River. Saint George's mission statement is "Inspiring scholars, athletes, and artists to serve and lead others."
Ontario University Athletics is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, and releases about those programs and events to the public and the media. This is similar to what would be called a college athletic conference in the United States. OUA, which covers Ontario, is one of four such bodies that are members of the country's governing body for university athletics, U Sports. The other three regional associations coordinating university-level sports in Canada are Atlantic University Sport (AUS), the Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CW), and Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ).
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 Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University. It became established as a constituent of McGill University in 1904 as the McGill Dental School, a department in the McGill University Faculty of Medicine until becoming its own faculty in 1920. In 2022, the Faculty of Dentistry was renamed as the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences to reflect the diversity of research conducted in the Faculty that goes beyond the dental chair. The Faculty is closely affiliated with the Montreal General Hospital, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal Children's Hospital, and McGill University Faculty of Medicine.
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. The university has an enrolment of more than 39,000 students.
Ssam (Korean: 쌈), meaning "wrapped", refers to a dish in Korean cuisine in which, usually, leafy vegetables are used to wrap a piece of meat such as pork or other filling. It is often accompanied by a condiment known as ssamjang and can also be topped with raw or cooked garlic, onion, green pepper, or a banchan such as kimchi. Ssam is usually bite-sized to prevent spilling out the fillings.
The ESSEC Global BBA is the Bachelor of Business Administration program of French institution ESSEC Business School.
The saltine cracker challenge or saltine challenge is a food challenge or competition in which a person has 60 seconds in which to eat six saltine soda crackers without drinking anything.
The McGill Martlets ice hockey team represents McGill University, based in Montreal, Quebec in U Sports women's ice hockey. They are members of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and have won four U Sports women's ice hockey championships. Some players have participated internationally, including in the World Student Games. Home games are played at McConnell Arena.
The University of Illinois Laboratory High School, also known as Uni High or just Uni, was established in 1921 and is a laboratory school located on the engineering section of the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, Illinois. Its enrolls about 300 students, spanning five years. The school's alumni include three Nobel laureates and a Pulitzer Prize winner. In 2022, Uni High was named as a top-15 public school in Illinois by Niche and the following year rose to a top-15 public school in the nation. In 2006 and 2008, it was recognized as a "public elite" school by Newsweek because of its students' high scores on the SAT. Before the change in the SAT's format in 2016, the average SAT score was 2045, and now varies from 1400 to 1600. As of 2019, the average SAT was a 1470. The average ACT score is a 32.
Molly Schuyler is an American competitive eater. In 2013, she signed with the competitive eating organization All Pro Eating. She has stated that she "usually swallows her food whole."
The Hult Prize is an annual competition for ideas solving pressing social issues, such as food security, water access, energy, and education. Named for Bertil Hult, the prize is awarded to college students, and has referred to as the "Nobel Prize for students".
Scottish Volleyball is the national governing body for volleyball, beach volleyball and sitting volleyball in Scotland. It is responsible for the development, promotion and delivery of district, national and international volleyball in Scotland. Legally, it is a private company limited by guarantee, with its members acting as its guarantors.
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 had recently been appointed the prime minister of the United Kingdom. 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 just weeks into her tenure and leading many political commentators to opine that Truss's resignation would be 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.