Champ Eats Over 2 Pounds of ‘Garlicky-Greens’

A competitive buzz filled the air as 40 lbs. of spinach were rolled out onto Dunster St. in preparation of b.good’s seventh annual “Garlicky-Greens Eating World Championship” on Saturday afternoon.

Jon J. Olinto, co-owner and co-founder of b.good, said that the restaurant created the competition seven years ago to encourage a sense of community around the business.

“We wanted to get the customers engaged and build a family,” Olinto said. “We didn’t want to be just one more restaurant.”

To commemorate their loyal patrons’ unique tastes, b.good decided upon the strangest item on its menu—garlicky-greens—as the focus of the competition. The rules are simple: eat as much of the vegetable as possible in five minutes, and the victor wins burgers for an entire year.

But for many of the competitors, the event was about much more than wholesome family fun.

“I’m doing this for the pride and glory. I detest spinach. I just don’t plan on chewing,” said Neil T. Curran ’12, who also participated in this year’s Chickwich Challenge and emerged victorious.

But another competitor—a student from Yale who goes by his stage name “King Hungry VIII”—made clear his intentions to topple Curran, along with all other Harvard students.

“I’ve been training very hard. I want to stick it to all these snooty Harvard people and show them that Yale is number one,” he said, leaning back to stretch out his stomach just minutes before competitors were called to the stage. “I’m in it to win it.”

But Curran said that he was more concerned about local elementary school teacher Alysa M. Breyer, a 5-foot-2 vegan weighing about 95 lbs.: “This is all she eats,” Curran said, referring to the spinach. “I think she’s the dark horse.”

Curran, it turned out, had every right to be worried. Breyer won the competition by shoveling down 2 lb. 4.5 oz. of b.good’s garlicky-greens.

“The spinach was seasoned really well. I actually enjoyed eating it,” said Bryer, who had prepared for the competition by increasing the amount of food she consumed to expand the size of her stomach.

But other competitors did not share Breyer’s sentiments. Nearly halfway through the competition, Curran’s defeat seemed inevitable as his fierce look of focus slowly melted into a nauseated grimace.

“It was disgusting,” Curran said after the competition. “I nearly hurled three times.”

Meanwhile, King Hungry VIII struggled to finish even half a pound. “Yale will continue to be second place,” said Collin A. Jones ’12, an avid supporter of Curran who placed second in the Chickwich Challenge. “They have never been good at math anyways.”

When asked if he would participate in the competition next year, Curran said that he “probably” would if invited back—unfortunately for him, Breyer shared the same response.