No Hands Allowed Pie Eating Contest (Video)

  KEY WEST, Fla. — How fast can you eat an entire Key lime pie without using your hands?

Houston attorney Trey Bergman did it in well under two minutes, winning Key West’s annual July 4 Mile High Key Lime Pie Eatin’ Contest.

Bergman, the defending champion, defeated 24 other entrants from around the U.S. Wednesday, devouring a nine-inch Key lime pie smothered in whipped cream in just 1:40:57.

Contestants were not allowed to use forks, spoons, or even their hands — resulting in inventive and very messy methods of consumption as they gobbled the Florida Keys’ signature dessert.

“My strategy is very simple. It’s the law of ABCs: ‘Always Be Consuming’!” said a jubilant Bergman after the contest, fragments of Key lime pie still smearing his face, T-shirt and the bright yellow bathing cap and goggles he wore.

Believed to have originated in Key West in the late 1800s, Key lime pie is made primarily of condensed milk, egg yolks and the juice of tiny yellow Key limes — typically with a graham cracker crust and whipped cream or meringue topping. It was designated Florida’s official pie in 2006 by the state legislature.

A highlight of the annual Key Lime Festival, the quirky consumption challenge is a sweet response to New York City’s traditional July 4 hotdog-eating contest.

“My Fourth of July tradition in Key West is to eat Key lime pie,” said Bergman. “We don’t need no stinkin’ hotdogs, we don’t need no stinkin’ anything else — If you’re in the Keys, you eat Key lime pie, baby, on the Fourth of July.”

The festival’s other events include an offbeat Key Lime Pie Drop, a scavenger hunt and tasting strolls featuring Key lime cocktails and pie.