Ah, the Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop. This one never gets old...
Published Monday, March 23, 1998
Seeking meat and glory, generations lured to Doodle
KATIE LINDGREN YDN Staff Reporter ...When a Princeton student came to the Doodle and attempted to break the record, Anderson said he and fellow Yale students in the Doodle were skeptical of the Princetonian's eating club education and abilities.
But when the Princeton student was on his thirteenth burgers and close to breaking the current record, Anderson said they realized that Yale's monopoly on the Doodle record was in jeopardy of being lost to their New Jersey rivals.
In an effort to foil the Princetonian's efforts, Anderson said that Josh McHugh '91[editor's note: '92] ordered the Princeton student a complementary [Yale, eh?]chocolate milkshake. The Princeton student did not see through this attempt to derail his Doodle efforts, and he drank the milkshake.
"The guy lost it. He went out the door like five minutes (afterwards)," said Anderson, still laughing years later about this display of defensive Doodle etiquette that kept the Doodle title in the hands and stomachs of Yale students...
(Via The Yale Daily News.) Click onward for the full story...
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Published Monday, March 23, 1998
Seeking meat and glory, generations lured to Doodle
KATIE LINDGREN
YDN Staff Reporter
One night during the 1950s, three Yale students entered the Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop to settle a bet about who could eat the most burgers. Nine burgers later, one of them emerged the winner of the first unofficial Doodle Challenge.
Years later, during the summer of 1989, Eddy Anderson '91 asked Doodle owner Lew Beckwith what the record was for Doodle burger consumption.
Beckwith said that when he told Anderson the story of the three friends, Anderson said he thought he could eat more than nine burgers.
And Beckwith said he sweetened the greasy challenge by offering to put Anderson's name on a plaque and hang it on the wall if he ate more than nine burgers.
"I figured I could eat a dozen," confessed Anderson. "But 10 was painful."
Still, Anderson did manage to eat 10 burgers, earning him a place on the restaurant wall, the distinction as the first official Doodle record holder, and a trophy from Lew that he still has.
And thus, the modern Doodle Challenge was born.
Over the years, both the Doodle, a traditional student haunt for late-night cravings, and the Doodle Challenge have become a source of pride among Yale students.
When a Princeton student came to the Doodle and attempted to break the record, Anderson said he and fellow Yale students in the Doodle were skeptical of the Princetonian's eating club education and abilities.
But when the Princeton student was on his thirteenth burgers and close to breaking the current record, Anderson said they realized that Yale's monopoly on the Doodle record was in jeopardy of being lost to their New Jersey rivals.
In an effort to foil the Princetonian's efforts, Anderson said that Josh McHugh '91 ordered the Princeton student a complementary chocolate milkshake. The Princeton student did not see through this attempt to derail his Doodle efforts, and he drank the milkshake.
"The guy lost it. He went out the door like five minutes [afterwards]," said Anderson, still laughing years later about this display of defensive Doodle etiquette that kept the Doodle title in the hands and stomachs of Yale students.
Currently, ten of the twelve Doodle record holders are Yale students, and one alumnus, Joe Merrill '86, even returned at the urging of friends after graduation to take up the Doodle Challenge.
The present Doodle record holder Armando Valdes '01 said that his second attempt at the challenge this fall was an effort to recapture the Doodle record for Yale after an outsider beat his record.
"It was sort of a Yale/New Haven thing versus an out-of-town of kid," said Valdes.
Valdes had been a vocal advocate for statehood for his native land of Puerto Rico. But instead of the self-deprivation of a hunger strike, he sought attention through a public display of gluttony, namely the Doodle Challenge.
"Part of the joke was that I was eating for statehood for Puerto Rico," Valdes said.
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