The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1912-11-01
EEL-EAT|NG CONTEST.
Linear Measurements, Not
Pounds, Count at Finish.
Winner, Five Feet Ten Inches IN
Height, Consumes Six Feet Ten
Inches of Smoking Fish---AIl
the Waistlines Alike.

New York.--Pie eating matches are
more or less familiar. Eel eating con.
tests are much less so, for the simple
reason that while commonly the pse
eating is done in public and for a
wager the eel eating is privately done
and for fun, though the loser may be
required to pay for all the cells eaten.
There Is little club composed of
half dozen substantial men, all Low.
ers of sea food, that owns comfort.
able bungalow In a pleasant spot on
the Long Island shore. in which its
members meet occasionally to eat a
sea food dinner. They do their own
cooking and they are all good cooks,
with one or another of them notably
able In some speciality. One is partic
ularly good on chowder, others on fish
and still others on cells. This club
assembled in the bungalow lately for
an eel dinner and incidentally for an
eel eating contest. ...
Among fishermen acquainted with
the eel in every aspect and among eel
lovers generally he is considered as a
qualified eel eater who can eat his
own length in cells. But of course no
man could eat his own length of big
cells; the cells for such a test must
not be more than half an inch In d.
ameter, which Is the standard size for
eels to be eaten in eel eating con-
tests. Such is also the size eel that
eel lovers find most agreeable to the
taste.
For this particular occasion the club
commissioned an eel fisherman to
gather cells in sufficient quantity and
also those that should fill the require
ments, being not more than half an
inch in diameter and of uniform size.
1t took the fisherman three days to do
this, though of course in that time
he gathered also many larger cells
which he could market. The cells for
the club he selected by Sitting his
catch through sieve with a half-inch
mesh.
The clubs cooking equipment in
cludes two big frying pans IS inches
in diameter. Two members sat down
before the fire with these big frying
pans and fried cells, which were kept
hot in an over, and when the cells
were all ready the club began to eat
In pie eating and some other similar
contests there Is usually set a time
limit, the winner being the man who
eats the greatest number of pies in
given time; but there is no time
limit here, The members eat leisure
ly, for enjoyment, and then when all
have finished the measurer measures
up the bones which each man has
preserved by himself at the table. One
lot after another each mans eel
bones are stretched out on the table.
with the sections set end to end and
snugly together, and then the meas
ure of the string is taken.
On this occasion all the men had
eaten more than their length of cells
with one exception. This member,
who stands five feet ten inches in
height, had eaten of cells but five
feet nine. Probably he could easily
have eaten section or two more and
so have exceeded the recognized
standard limit II he had only taken
the trouble to keep a little closer
mental note of his stacked up bones.
But there were other members who
had exceeded the standard by consid.
cradle, including one man of the same
height as the loser, namely, Ave feet
ten, who had eaten six feet ten inches
Of cells, or one foot more than his own
length. This probably constitutes the
eel eating record.