Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Eating contest features exotic foods downed quickly — or not
Matt Turk 13, looks despairingly at the cold jellyfish and seaweed dish he was served during the Gross-Out competition.
Matt Turk 13, looks despairingly at the cold jellyfish and seaweed dish he was served during the Gross-Out competition.
Photos by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times
RADFORD — The library's meeting room was already pungent with garlic and scrapple when 12-year-old Judith Young faced her next challenge: a pile of cold, brown, mushy kimchi.
Clad in hard-core black and camouflage — with her breath even fiercer than her outfit — Judith was poised to gulp down the Korean cabbage mixture. Her mission: to eat as many off-the-wall foods as possible for the ultimate prize.
Judith and her middle-school pal Cypress Beach had readied themselves for the Radford Public Library's Gross-Out Food Challenge. They ate light lunches earlier Thursday and supported each other throughout the contest's first rounds, sampling tofu, sheep's milk cheese, Brussels sprouts and jalapeno peppers.
"I thought that was good," Judith said post-tofu.
She repeatedly asked for seconds of foods that caused some of the 11 other contestants to vomit and bail from the competition.
Dave Banker, teen coordinator at the library, imagined the game show-style contest in which a group of middle and high school students were asked to eat an array of unconventional, sometimes slimy, foods. They had five rounds and 15 foods to consume. The idea was to attract students, whether to eat or watch, so they could have fun and be compelled to visit the library again. Word spread like a bad rash through school newspapers and stickers.
About 50 teenagers crammed into the already crowded room. Some chanted for their pals to continue, despite pangs from foul-tasting foods such as squid or cod liver.
"A lot of these kids are already regulars," Banker said.
The library has seen growth in the number of young people who visit after school. It's right down the hill from Dalton Intermediate and Radford High schools. Youths such as Judith stop by to finish homework while they wait for their parents or to use the Internet connection, Banker said.
Across the Roanoke Valley, libraries have always been popular spots, regardless of any stigma, said Paula Alston, director of the neighboring Montgomery/Floyd Regional Library system. Those nearest schools are the most hopping, she said.
But competing in contests such as Radford's beats craftmaking and story time, said 15-year-old Alex Fore, who ditched the contest after eating a cold, hard-boiled duck's egg. The egg's melon-colored center was the final stretch for his stomach.
Judith persisted, downing anchovies, seaweed and jellyfish. The final test was Banker's specialty — a shake made from carrot and lemon juices, habanero pepper sauce and hemp milk.
Judith and 18-year-old Ben Walker raced to finish the drink through a straw while opposing sides of the room chanted their names. With one more chug left for Judith, Walker grabbed the prize — a $20 gift certificate for video games.
"Just chew it fast, swallow and don't taste," was his secret.
Still, Julia and her steel stomach survived, with her smiling the whole way.
