Twenty-five competitors chowed down on the Florida Keys’ signature dessert July 4 in Key West -- without using their hands -- but no one did it faster than Joshua Mogle.
Mogle, a 38-year-old tire manufacturing manager from Altoona, Iowa, won the World Famous Key Lime Pie Eating Championship by devouring an entire 9-inch pie topped with whipped cream in just 3 minutes and 35 seconds.
The quirky consumption challenge was a sweet alternative to New York City’s Fourth of July hotdog-eating contest, as well as the culmination of Key West’s 10th annual Key Lime Festival.
Scarfing down his pie face-first and hands-free, according to contest rules, Mogle emerged grinning triumphantly with his sandy beard covered in whipped cream.
“My strategy today was just don’t breathe and just keep eating, constantly bringing food to the mouth -- just eat, eat, eat,” said Mogle.
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. In 2006, it was designated Florida's official pie by the state legislature.
And while many people consider apple pie to be an American staple on Independence Day, that’s clearly not the case in the Florida Keys.
“Here in Key West on July 4, Key lime pie IS your apple pie, so there’s nothing better to have on July 4,” said Mogle.
The competition took place less than 24 hours after a Key lime pie measuring 13.14 feet in diameter, to be submitted for certification as the world’s largest, was created for the Florida Keys’ bicentennial celebration.
July 3 marked the 200th anniversary of the Florida Territorial Legislature’s establishment of Monroe County, containing the entire Keys island chain.