World champ hails from Orange.
Illustration by Andrew Colin Beck
It was 18th-century satirist Jonathan Swift who quipped, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.”
But what about the guy who ate 480 oysters … in eight minutes? Definitely bold. A few other superlatives come to mind for Orange County native Darron Breeden, who bested seven other competitors in the World Oyster Eating Championship at the New Orleans Oyster Festival in June. Breeden slurped his way through 40 dozen of south Louisiana’s finest—far outpacing the second place winner who only managed to polish off 27 dozen.
Just imagine what could have happened if they’d had Chesapeake Bay oysters … the number of oysters would probably have been the same, but they would have tasted much better.
This article originally appeared in our Smoke & Salt 2018 issue, on newsstands now.
