It’s Summer! I think you should…
Written by joythebaker on June 21, 2009 – 11:27 pm -
… eat watermelon, in a park, in a row with several friends, quickly, in a race-type situation. See who finishes first. Crown them the winner.
Call it a Watermelon Eating Contest.
It’s summer. Summer is fun. Watermelon is summer fun.
Here are five Watermelon Eating Contest tips, from a photographer not a participant.
Just before the race, it’s not a bad idea to lick your lips and stretch out the back. You’ll need every advantage. No… pregnant women do not have to eat twice the amount of watermelon. It doesn’t work that way.
Positioning is important.
Cool sunglasses might prevent watermelon splatter. No? Feel free to cast them aside.
White is not the ideal shirt color for such a contest. Rest easy, this is nothing a little Tide can’t fix.
Thorough. If not speedy, please do be thorough. Heck… might as well enjoy the melon!
Happy Summer! What are you doing for fun times?
Tags: oakland, summer, watermelon
Posted in Fruit, Thoughts, around town, life | 45 Comments »
Who won?
Was it the guy standing in the last pic? Or one of the pregnant ladies? 
I was a green pepper, my boyfriend was an eggplant. But we had cakes and ice creams and hot dogs, too. It really was fun. 
Now it’s back to reality, but since my editor hasn’t send me anything new yet, it would seem that today for fun i will be reading and catching up on my ironing with some movies to keep me company. 
Lately for fun? This weekend we went to the slovenian coast to compete in tap (officially), but really to have great fun on stage, dancing as … food!
What a great way to enjoy summer! I’ve heard a way to take that event further is to have a watermelon seed spitting contest, lol! You let the contestants spit the seeds and measure who spit the furthest seed the longest distance–sounds kind of “back woods” but sure fun in the summertime! This summer I am hosting an Iron Cupcake Challenge with the flavor Lemon. We are going to donate proceeds to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation-a charity for kids with childhood cancer. It’s another type of contest, not quite a watermelon eating contest, but a contest none the less. The participants will throw their oven mitts in the ring and who knows what the outcome will be….. I’ll keep you posted. I always enjoy reading your blog–keep up the great work!!
great idea – i haven’t had my first watermelon of the summer yet, but I can’t wait
Looks like fun
I’m going to a water park this Wednesday, so that’s some fun I’m excited about
this is hilarious. i love the last picture – he sure does seem to be “thoroughly” enjoying that one piece of watermelon!
some feta cheese would go well with that watermelon!
this summer, i will attempt to go an herb garden! and maybe some radishes, we’ll see!!
Cute! Joy, your social life seems much more awesome than mine. And by awesome I mean existent.
Anyhoo, feta cheese would go great with watermelon and maybe mint… I think. I don’t know about that combination but a watermelon salad seems in order.
My friends are silly enough to do something like this. It reminds me of the time I had a shrimp eating contest with friends. Let me just tell you, that was a very bad idea.
Tip 6: Think about something very very serious, like how one derives the quadratic formula–otherwise, the laughing will totally cripple you. I laughed my way through the whole first piece, and by the time I reached the second, Kate had already won.
your friends are HOTTT
Love it, Joy! These are so much fun
The inspiration: http://foodproof.com/videos/view/watermelon-watermelon-one-more-please-95
This looks like you all had so much fun! Sooo much fun.. my mom always has us do this when the family is together, and even though the dads/bro-in-laws dont always want to do it, they seem to enjoy it when they do.
So cute!
this made me laugh! how fun!
I like the guy in the centre of the first and last photos. He’s cute! For fun I’m going to Wimbledon this week to watch a match on Centre Court! If my boyfriend decides he doesn’t want to go at the last minute, your friend is welcome to join me
Should be watermelon halves with no hands!
Ha! this is cute. I bet I’d win in a watermelon contest over Dallas if I were competing against her…lol shhhhh.
BIKE RIDING! …and getting sunburned.
you could add a watermelon seed spitting contest. who can spit and get the best distance?
Aw man… my husband once got in trouble (with a non-pregnant woman) for looking at an artsy photo of a nude pregnant woman and saying it looked like she’d swallowed a watermelon. ‘Nuff said.
Moving to Canada!
Joy you take such great pics! Looks like you guys all had alotta fun!
p.s. luv the captions!
That looks like fun and not frightening like those all you can eat hot dog contests.
joy, you have no idea how much you just brightened my day
Lol! that looks like a lot of fun
great pics, btw who won?
Ooh! Watermelon’s my absolute favorite berry (that’s right: berry, which it technically is). Sweet, succulent, cold, juicy, refreshing. I’m totally stealing this idea for my birthday!
why does middle guy in with the cool glasses look just like my boy zack?? weeeeeird
Dying to know who won Joy. Tell us. Please! By the way you have spunky friends.
haha, great stuff! Such fun in the sun!!
I too, want to know who won! What a fun idea.
It was me! The pregnant chick in the green dress and sunglasses! I won! My husband (he’s on my right—you can’t really see him in the picture) came in a close second. The prize was being really really full of delicious watermelon.
And here’s a funny thing—my friend Lara (whose baby shower it was) emailed me the link to this so I could see the pics. On the same day I got a Facebook message from an old, old friend of mine saying that he just saw a pic of me eating watermelon on a food blog that he reads. So random! Joy, you clearly have a wide readership! Your blog is great, as was the apricot cobbler I just made.
Oh wait! Both preg chicks are wearing green dresses and sunglasses! We didn’t plan it, I swear. I gots the braids and my dress is more turquoise, while Lara’s is olive.
Kate! Thank you so much for stopping by to comment! I don’t think I even got a chance to talk to you at Lara’s baby shower! What a shame! I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself!
So! Yes! You totally won that watermelon eating contest! Aaaaamazing! You totally snuck up on all those boys! Rad!
What a crazy small world it is that two people in your circle are emailing you links to this post. So funny! I love it.
I’m sure I’ll see you again soon. Hopefully when Ivy Cat and Mitch and Lara’s little one are happy babies in the world.
Joy, omg! You take SUCH great pics serously! and your captions are soo funny! Keep up the good work! lol
Hey Joy!
Can I just say I too want your social lifestyle? lol. You and your friends always seem to do the most interesting things. I wish my friends and I could come up with something more clever than dinner and movie with the occasional bar thrown in! Where is that park? It looks like its by the port… San Pedro side? I can’t say how often I had to go over that bridge for my Oceanography classes. Such a confusing area! Anyway its awesome. Lastly I think I need to suggest a watermelon eating contest to my cousin. She wants to be more clever than the ones we’ve been to lately lol! And congrats on winning to Kate!
I cut up all those watermelons! I’m surprised I still have 10 fingers. I’m also the dude on the right (in the white) in the first picture. I failed miserably at the contest. I think I came in second to last.
Thanks for the photos, Joy!
damn you!! basking in your summer weather! ahh how i wish it was summer here already (Australia). But at least i get to enjoy all the winter treats….mmm hot chocolate
Want my social life!? Yea…. well I only put the fun things up here. I don’t tend to post pictures of me sitting in front of my computer all Friday night answering emails. Not as awesome, right!?
I have an idea! Maybe we could just be friends… then we could share my social life? See… I’m a thinker!
Adam!? What are you doing here!? Nice job of the watermelon, and the retention of all your digits. Also, I didn’t mention this before, but you won the contest for Most Photogenic Top of Head. So… congratulations on that, for real.
Hey these people are cheating first off their having fun second you are not allowed to use your hands. Reminds me of a project I was going to do involving a series of shots like this except I was going to use the same person (just dressed differently) competing with themselves in a Watermelon, Sack race & I was trying to decide if I should do a chocolate whipped cream or cherry pie eating contests.
)
Your guy pals are seriously hunky!
Wow, I came to this too late! I love the pictures and am still sore that I did not win (ahem, Kate). This is the second watermelon eating contest in which I have competed and I have a problem with keeping the watermelon in my mouth. Thanks for posting the pics.
That guy in the dark shirt is hot.
This post is awesome! You have hot guy friends, Joy!