MEXICO: Mexico breaks its own record for world's largest sandwich.

Record ID: 305429

  • Title: MEXICO: Mexico breaks its own record for world's largest sandwich.
  • Date: 1st August 2012
  • Summary: MAN CUTTING LARGE SANDWICH (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FAIR PARTICIPANT, IVON, SAYING: "It's great that they broke the record; I think it was 53 metres and the torta is very tasty." SANDWICH MAKERS DISTRIBUTING TORTA VARIOUS OF PEOPLE EATING SANDWICH
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAAC3PB2F4Q6EPMPYPHA5JRVB8K
  • Story Text: Mexico City breaks a record for the longest sandwich ever prepared in Latin America - but falls a few loaves short of the world record.


    Dozens of people in Mexico City on Wednesday (August 01) crafted a 53-metre-long (173-feet-long) monster sandwich - making it the biggest sandwich ever made in Latin America.
    Local authorities and 55 local business rolled up their sleeves to prepare the sandwich - known as 'torta' in Mexico.
    Thousands of pieces of bread, lettuce, onion and tomato were mixed with more than 70 ingredients, including hundreds of litres of mayonnaise, mustard and spicy sauces. Each section of the 700 kg (154 lb) super torta had a different flavour cooked up by local chefs.
    Organised by local government in the Mexican capital, officials hope the mammoth sandwich will give the nutritious Mexican torta a much-needed boost in sales as it struggles to compete with imported fast food chains.
    "What we are trying to do is to support the social development of small businesses which are normally family businesses. In the last ten years, the sale of the torta has fallen 60 percent due to foreign fast food which does not have the same nutritional value of the torta," said local government official, Elena Edith Segura Trejo.
    Despite its super size, the sandwich didn't quite make it into the big league of sandwiches. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest sandwich ever made was in 2005 in the United States and weighed 2,467.5 kg (5,440 lb), while the honour of the longest sandwich goes to two Italians who constructed a sandwich over 630 metres (2066 feet) long in 2004.
    For organisers, the sandwich exceeded the record they set one year ago when they prepared a baguette some three metres (9 feet) shorter than Wednesday's (August 01) effort.
    "It's great that they broke the record; I think it was 53 metres and the torta is very tasty," said fair participant, Ivon.
    With large crowds waiting for a taste of the mammoth sandwich, torta lover Paulina Barrera gave chefs the thumbs up for their creation.
    "It was worth waiting; it is delicious. I'm eating the turkey, delicious, very good," she said.
    The long torta challenge is part of a three-day fair that looks to support the traditional Mexican sandwich and more than 20,000 local businesses across the country dedicated to producing the delicious baguette.
    Event organisers expect more than 350,000 visitors during the fair and hope to sell hundreds of thousands of tortas.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register