The University of Minnesota’s Lettuce Club held its yearly lettuce-eating competition Friday, where nearly two dozen University students and other community members competed to see who could eat a head of lettuce the fastest.

The Lettuce Club is a student-run organization that meets once a year to hold a lettuce-eating competition. The winner is crowned the Head Lettuce and serves as the club’s president for the next year.

Ethan Lie, a third-year human physiology major, was crowned this year’s head lettuce, eating his head of lettuce in 3 minutes and 32 seconds.

Lie tied with fourth-year industrial and systems engineering student Jared Burnett, but was crowned the head since Burnett will graduate this semester.

The current all-time record is 2 minutes and 35 seconds, set by Hampton Weber in 2021.

“Right hands on your lettuce and left hands in the air, lettuce compete today with honor, glory and most importantly, a mild appetite for leafy vegetables,” competitors recited in unison before the competition began.

Former and most recent head lettuce Nathan Tomas ate his lettuce in 5 minutes and 21 seconds in 2024. As part of their presidential duties, the Head Lettuce is also responsible for planning next year’s meeting.

Tomas said the club allows students to have fun, especially amidst finals stress.

“I think people need to realize how important it is to just be goofy and to have fun and to just enjoy themselves,” Tomas said. “I don’t think people do that enough.”

Tomas said he was excited by the notoriety the club has amassed in recent years.

“I think its importance really lies in the fact that we’re students, we have stressful days and we have stressful lives, but at the end of the day we want to have fun,” Tomas said. “This is an opportunity for people to have that and relax and just take a minute or hour out of their hectic schedules.”

When I arrived at the Northrop Mall shortly before the competition began, I was greeted by Tomas, dressed in a green robe, holding a stick-shaped scepter with a lettuce head glued on top as he was wearing a lettuce crown on his head.

Almost immediately after, the masses started to come in carrying their heads of lettuce, and I was handed one by another competitor who encouraged me to compete. I did and quickly realized I was not built for this.

People around me were chugging bottles of dressing and ranch. Some took quick, small bites of the lettuce, and others took big bites and chewed longer. The event brought life to campus and pain to my stomach.

During Lie’s coronation following his win, attendees shouted “God save the Head Lettuce” in unison, while the royal coronation overture played in the background. Tomas then handed Lie a stick-shaped scepter with a lettuce head glued on top, and placed a lettuce crown on his head, formally crowning him the new Head Lettuce.

When giving his winning speech, Lie said he called his mom the day before the event and added that his mom called the club stupid and that he could not get anything out of it.

“First of all, I feel like I have a bit of a tummy ache,” Lie said. “I feel shocked, I knew I was gonna go all out, but I wasn’t super confident.”

Lie said it was amazing how many students came together from many different backgrounds to eat heads of lettuce — what he called a “feat of humanity.”

Lie said what makes the lettuce club so special is its randomness and its ability to resonate with so many different people.

Burnett, who was part of the Lettuce Club Cabinet this semester as the Kale Keeper, said the event really showed how amazing life is when students come together to do something dumb.

“All of us coming together, it really shows what life is about,” Burnett said. “It’s not about the big things, it’s about the little things too.”

Burnett said having the yearly meeting around finals helped him relieve stress, adding students should show up to events like this to be a part of the University community.

Nick Moore, a third-year civil engineering student, said he came to the event because his friends told him about it, and he thought it would be fun.

“I think it’s something strange, it’s out of the ordinary, and I think it’s just a good way to relieve some stress before finals season picks up,” Moore said.

Moore said the event did not necessarily relieve his finals stress.

“But it sure as heck gets my mind off of things, eating some lettuce,” Moore said.