May-June 2003 > John Harvard's Journal

Quick at the Plate

by Craig Lambert

It came down to an esophagus-and-esophagus finish, but with friends cheering him on, Ian Walker ’03 swallowed up the lead of a chomping Eagle from Boston College and won the first annual "Burger Beanpot" by two bites — in four minutes flat — at the Eagle Deli in Brookline this February. Organized by local television station WB 56, the speed-eating contest centered on the "Riley Burger" — comprising six half-pound hamburgers and 12 slices of cheese on a roll. Entrants from Boston University and Northeastern were also hungry for the title, but Walker was hungrier. Biting into the BC Eagle’s big lead, Walker took his cue from the "no-huddle" football offense with a "no-chew" attack on the last two patties. "You take a bite you know you can swallow. Too big a bite and you waste a lot of extra time chewing," says the 6-foot, 5-inch, 260-pound Walker, a football recruit who rowed freshman crew instead. "I was drinking water and powering through it. Adrenaline numbed any pain."

Walker prepared for game day by drinking a gallon of water the night before to expand his stomach capacity. Harvard assistant director of athletics John Veneziano originally recruited 300-pound senior tackles Jamil Soriano and Jack Fadule to gobble for Harvard, but Fadule suggested his roommate, Walker, instead. (Last summer, Walker had outclassed him in a pizza-eating contest, getting outside of two entire pizzas in 19 minutes, the first one falling in four.) "I’m much more of a speed guy than a quantity guy," says Walker, who has astonished onlookers in the Adams House dining hall by scarfing down six saltines in 40 seconds (without water), or polishing off two slices of white bread in one minute — "that’s tougher," he says. Having dieted for two months before the contest, Walker was "loath to do it," but afterwards, waiting for the trolley, admitted that he had room for a couple more burgers. The Crimson entered the eat-off as underdogs, but "It’s all about strategy anyway," Walker says. "So Harvard had the edge."