When you think of competitive eating, you’re likely to envisage a local fairground looking at bulky meat-eaters with an endless appetite to scoff masses of stodgy food, like sweaty hot dogs or moist sloppy joes. In other cases, people aim to prove themselves and show off their iron tongue, as they bite into seven-pot habanero chillis and build tears above their bright red cheeks.
Very rarely, do you expect to see hundreds crowding around an eating competition cheering on contestants munching on bunches of watercress.
However, in Alresford, a small town in Hampshire, England watercress was on the menu for hundreds of families who packed the streets over the weekend for the annual . And taking the limelight of the variety of entertainment such as, food stalls, music acts, workshops and other watercress themed… stuff, was the World Record Watercress Eating Championships.
Participants were required to stuff their faces as fast as possible, consuming two bags worth of watercress. Amongst the 16 green gobbler entries, was the current Guinness World record holder Glen Walsh. With a stomach full of vitamin K and possibly the presence of manure, Walsh took out first place again this year, winning the championships in one minute 37 seconds. Somebody get this man a crown and a toothpick!
World Record Watercress Eating Championships 2016 (Image: James Newell) Source: James Newell
(Image: James Newell) Source: James Newell
(Image: James Newell) Source: James Newell
(Image: James Newell) Source: James Newell
Watercress is an aquatic perennial herb, grown in slow running bodies of water near nature springs. It's traditionally piled between slices of bread, upon an egg mayonnaise filling, completing the classic supermarket bought sandwich. Watercress has a sharp and tangy taste, somewhat like tender mustard greens. Its peppery flavour comes from the gluconasturtiin found within its leaves and stem.
It may be classed as a weed, but this edible green is a rich source of vitamin K, which helps limit neuronal damage to the brain and can play a role in the treatment of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. Furthermore, watercress has potassium, calcium and magnesium properties, believed to prevent cardiovascular diseases and colon cancers.
It's all things 'watercress' at Alresford Watercress Festival - even the outfits (Image; James Newell) Source: James Newell
It is also grown in a number of counties throughout the United Kingdom, with the town of Alresford being named the ‘nation’s watercress capital’. The local crop draws in more than 15,000 visitors each year to celebrate the plentiful sprouts of a national treasure.
This years' World Record for watercress eating goes to Glen Walsh, who is claiming this title for the fifth time.
