Over 300 poutine lovers swarmed SLC’s Great Hall Jan. 29 to witness the poutine speed-eating contest hosted by the UW Chinese Student Association (UWCSA). </p>
The team speed-eating contest consisted of 20 teams of four. Each member had to devour a box of poutine in the shortest amount of time possible, and the teams that finished the quickest survived onto the next round. The contest lasted three rounds in total and the winning team received the prize of a poutine party for 20 people.
The lobby was already crammed with students at 4 p.m. when the event began, seduced by the smell of freshly-made fries topped with mouth-watering gravy and cheese. The event was hosted by UW YouTube star Daniel Shim, a.k.a. Shimmy, who did a spectacular job of keeping the audience engaged by bribing them with free poutine and discount cards.
If there’s one word to describe what went down, it would be “ferocious.” It only took a matter of seconds before scrawny students turned into poutine monsters gone berserk, grabbing chunks of fries with both hands and shoving everything down their throats. Fries flying 10 feet into the air, gravy and cheese sputtering across the room, and cardboard containers mistaken as poutine are only glimpses of what happened.
The real chaos occurred when Shimmy declared free poutine for everyone that liked sponsor Smoke’s Poutinerie’s Facebook page. Immediately after the announcement, he was overrun by screaming students with smartphones in their hands. The poor guy has a skinny figure — he would’ve probably gotten eaten alive by the starving mob if he hadn’t prepared enough poutine.
“The contest was about bringing out everyone, not just the Chinese community,” said Edward Tam, president of UWCSA. “This is an excellent way to promote multiculturalism in UW. Since we have the resources, then why not?”
With logistic support from Smoke’s Poutinerie Waterloo, UWCSA was able to raise $500 through this event. All proceeds went directly to Meal Exchange, a non-profit organization that aims to end hunger in Canadian youths.
