9 Record-Breaking Restaurants
In the past three weeks, there have been no less than seven food and beverage world records broken, according the Guinness World Records' blog. The food frenzy isn't just limited to the U.S. – the excitement over making Godzilla-sized portions of a single dish extends into Mexico, Turkey, Japan and the U.K.
Sure, it's an obvious publicity stunt, but in many cases the challenge aims to draw awareness to an issue, or raise money for a cause. Sometimes it's the centerpiece of a food celebration like October's Enchilada Festival in Mexico City where chefs from area restaurants laid out the longest enchilada in history.
In other cases, the record is a business' claim to fame, like Casa Botín in Madrid, the oldest operating restaurant. When it's such a part of a restaurant's identity, every so often they are called upon to defend their title, as in the case of Mallie's in Northside, Mich., who last year topped their own record for the biggest burger. Customers can actually buy a slightly smaller 150-pound version for $499 and attempt to eat it (or a couple of little kids can just sit on it – seriously).
When it's a food record to be broken, the crowd in attendance usually gets to eat the winning product, which means that it actually has to taste good. Someone in the know must calculate all the correct measurements, and that's when an actual chef is called in to preside over the cooking. Guinness World Records and Michelin stars may not coexist, but these nine record-breaking restaurants have earned a type of food badge in their own right.