Dorset's nettle eating contest
One of the strangest eating competitions in the country takes place every year at the Bottle Inn, a 16th-century public house at Marshwood in Dorset. This is the World Nettle Eating Championship.
The contest began in the late 1980s when two farmers argued over who had the longest stinging nettles in their field and evolved into the World Nettle Eating Championships when one of the farmers promised to eat any nettle which was longer than his.
These days the competition is part of a charity beer festival. challengers sit at a table and hordes of spectators cheer them on. The nettles are cut down to 2-feet-long stalks, and each competitor has an hour to pluck and eat as many stinging nettle leaves as possible. At the end, the bare stalks are counted and measured, and the winner is the person who ate the longest length.
Nettles are eaten raw after being soaked in water overnight to ensure they remain fresh and full of sting.
The championship has separate men’s and women’s sections and attracts competitors from as far afield as Canada and Australia.
In June 2010 Sam Cunningham, a fishmonger from Somerset won the contest, after eating 74 feet (23 m) of nettles. In June 2014 Phillip Thorne, a chef from Colyton, Devon won the contest, after eating 80 feet (24 m) of nettles. In 2017 the Overall Champion was Jonathan Searle from Solihull who munched his way through 70 feet of nettles whilst the Women's Prize went to Kate Ribton of Stoke St Gregory, in Somerset, who got through 28 feet (8.5 m) of the stinging leaves.
Participants say eating the nettles doesn't actually hurt as much as you might imagine, it instead causes a tingling sensation around the mouth.
Further reading
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