Chinese City Blows Fried Rice Title

Waste not, want not:

Guinness World Records has denied a Chinese city’s attempt at a new mark for the biggest serving of fried rice ever cooked, saying Yangzhou violated rules by wasting 150 kilograms (331 pounds) of the feast. According to a posting on the record book’s Chinese microblog, organizers said 4 metric tons (8,820 pounds) of cooked fried rice was distributed to five different outlets. However, it said a portion had been handled inappropriately, violating the organization’s rules requiring that the food be edible and not be wasted.

Local media quoted the Yangzhou tourism bureau as saying some of the rice was considered inedible and sent to a farm to feed pigs. Yangzhou fried rice is famed in China and throughout the world for its creative use of ingredients, including carrots, peas and ham.

Um… if I were a pig, I might want to skip the ham part.

Local media said the record attempt last Thursday involved 300 cooks frying up the dish in individual woks before ladling it into one giant bowl for presentation. Most of it was then distributed to schools that had taken part in the event. According to Guinness’ website, the Turkey Culinary Federation holds the current record for fried rice, having served up 3,150 kilograms (6,944 pounds) of the dish on Sept. 27, 2014.

Meanwhile, the award for the longest baguette goes to:

… a 122-meter-long (400-foot-long) baguette baked at the Milan Expo 2015 World’s Fair as the longest in the world. Some 60 French and Italian bakers worked nearly seven hours Sunday to bake the French bread characterized by its soft middle and crusty exterior, methodically moving a specially designed portable oven along the length of the doughy preparation.The bakers worked at a rate of 20 meters (66 feet) an hour, their progress complicated by working outdoors and the biggest challenge to avoid any breakage.

It was at least the fourth world record declared during the six-month Expo, which closes Oct. 31, including the longest pizza at 1.5954 kilometers, or nearly a mile long.

Yum.