Definitely file this one under ‘Pizza Lore’. Top Pizzaiolos (Pizza chefs) from around the world got together earlier this month to bake the world’s longest Pizza. It came in at over a mile (1.6 km) long! l’ll bet you want to know how they did it. So did I. But more compelling to me was why they did it…
Just a few of the 400 Master Pizza makers who pooled their skills and talent
to produce the world’s longest Pizza last week in Naples, Italy.
More than 400 Pizzaiolos gathered in Naples – the ancestral home of Pizza – to make the Crust, simmer the Sauce, Tear the Mozzarella and scatter the Basil over 1.15 miles (1.85 km) of classic Pizza Margarita. It took over 11 hours and set a new Guinness World Record. The old record was a mere 0.93 mile (1.5 km).
The shopping list went like this:
- 4,400 lb (2,000 kg) Flour
- 4,400 lb (2,000 kg) Mozzarella
- 3,300 lb (1,500 kg) Tomato Sauce
- 53 gal (200 L) Olive Oil
- 66 lb (30 kg) Fresh Basil
The Pizza was actually laid out on a string of special tables along the SS18, the beachfront scenic route that runs along the Gulf of Naples beneath Mount Vesuvius. The Pizza stayed stationary and the oven crawled slowly along the strip of crust, drawing it in one side and gently conveying it out the other, after hitting it with just the right amount of blistering heat to bake the crust and sizzle the toppings.
We have no report about who ate it, but I imagine the 400 Pizza artisans who made it shared it with tourists and Napoletane who turned out to witness the historic event.
So, why did they do it?
Seems the only reason was to try and break the old record. But what do you expect when you get 400 highly competitive Master Pizza Chefs together?
~ Maggie J.