Last Saturday, ten chefs from Jordan cooked up the world’s largest falafel.
Jordan joined the Guinness Book of World Records this week for the world’s biggest falafel. The super culinary feat was witnessed by a Guinness official who confirmed the falafel as “the world’s largest”. Fame was fleeting for the phenomenal falafel, weighing in at 74.75kg, which was later eaten as an appetizer by some of the 600 people attending a special iftar banquet.
“This is a great achievement and a difficult record to beat for years to come. We welcome everyone who successfully took part in the family of Guinness World Record holders,” said Annabel Lawady, adjudication manager at Guinness, after announcing the results.
Chef Mohammad Hudeib told ITN News, “The idea came two months ago. We started trials and establishing records, each time we succeeded in a record we improved upon it, until we settled on 74 kg.”
The previous record was set in 2011 when a 23.95kg ball of falafel was created at the Santa Clarita Valley Jewish Food and Cultural Festival in California.
“We invited people to attend this remarkable event. It is a nice opportunity for children and adults to watch the process of making the largest falafel,” said Landmark Hotel spokesperson, Samya Bader.
“It is a great honor for us. We are proud. Falafel is a part of our tradition and heritage and I am glad to see that we proved that,” said an anonymous eyewitness.
The champion falafel was made using 80kg of chickpeas, 5kg of onions, 2kg of fresh parsley and coriander, and 1.2kg of garlic. The record-breaker was then deep fried for 25 minutes in 350 liters of vegetable oil.
“The falafel is a traditional Arabic food and so naturally this record should be held here. As a local hotel proud of its Jordanian roots, the Landmark Amman wanted to mark this special time of year by doing something truly extraordinary and bringing the falafel record to Jordan,” Landmarks Hotel Company General Manager Aysar Batayneh said in a press release featured on the Guinness World Record official website.
This is Jordan’s second success this year in winning Guinness World Records: in May, the Jordan Tourism Board snagged the record for the world’s largest sand art structure. According The Jordan Times, that enormous bottle of layered colored sand was created to mark the 200th anniversary of the re-discovery of the historic city of Petra.
Image of chick peas courtesy of Shutterstock
