If you’re a person who looks forward to the holidays because there are so many lutefisk church dinners, then we have some exciting news for you. On Friday, Nov 10, Madison, MN will hold this year’s Lutefisk Eating Contest. The competition is the main event of Madison’s annual Norsefest celebration which is in its 50th year of paying homage to the town’s Scandinavian roots.
In honor of that, Madison is hoping to lure 50 eaters to join the competition; lutefisk loving visitors are welcome to drive to the small town 160 miles west of the Twin Cities to take on the challenge.
“So far we have 41 people who say they will do it,” said Maynard Meyer, who is kind of a big fish in the Madison pond. Meyer runs the local Chamber of Commerce and owns the town’s movie theater and radio station, where he is the morning man.
“We’ve got the locals and we’ve had people who have signed up and are coming from Hopkins, Maple Grove, Bloomington, northern Minnesota and a guy from Wisconsin,” Meyer said. “We’ll have fifty eaters if I have to drag people out of the crowd; we’re buying enough lutefisk for that many.”
The county seat of Lac qui Parle County, Madison bills itself as “the lutefisk capital of the world.” The town boasts a 25 foot codfish statue called Lou T Fisk; a cartoon version of him waves from the town water tower.
Before Friday’s contest, to be held at Madison’s VFW, there will be a dinner for the public where people will be able to choose between lutefisk and meatballs; they will get mashed potatoes and other sides.
Once the contest begins, the competitors will take the tables at the VFW and face nothing but a slab of the gelatinous fish on the plate. There won’t even be salt and pepper shakers on the table; the only enhancement for eaters will be squirt bottles filled with artificial butter.
The contest has three divisions. The Sharks, who start with a pound of lutefisk; the Walleyes, who start with a half pound, and the Guppies who face a quarter pound of the translucent fish.
“It’s a timed event. They have three minutes to clean their plates. We take a quick break and then they load them back up again. We keep going until people start dropping out and there’s just one left,” Meyer explained.
Any comers hoping to win the contest will have to get by the reigning hometown champ. Jerry Osteraas is Madison’s answer to Joey Chestnut. (Chestnut is the famed competitive eater who’s won the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest in New York City on the Fourth of July for a record 23 times).
A retired foundry worker, the snowy-haired Osteraas has won the contest more times than he can remember, and has set the record for the most lutefisk eaten at the contest—he once consumed a belly busting eight and a quarter pounds of the fish in one sitting.
“Hoo, that’s a lot of lutefisk!” Meyer said with a tone of reverence in his voice. “Jerry’s brother-in-law beat him a few times but one year he had a heart attack a few weeks after the contest and he never came back so Jerry’s the guy to beat.”
Not to be indelicate, but there’s bound to be curiosity about whether competitors must, shall we say, digest the fish after gulping it down.
“We have a retention rule. The eaters have to hold it down for 60 seconds or they are disqualified. But most people know when to quit,” Meyer said. “We have a receptacle nearby just in case.”
Usually the champion lutefisk eater is rewarded only with bragging rights the admiration of the community. But this year, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Norsefest, the winner of both the Shark and the Walleye divisions will get a trophy and some Madison bucks to spend with local merchants.
Meyer himself usually competes in the guppy division, but he admits he does it to boost the number of competitors rather than any love of the main dish.
“I grew up with lutefisk. My mother always made it. I’m 100% Scandinavian and none of me likes it,” he said. “But a lot of people do love it. Go figure.”