The World’s Largest Taco.

Weighing in at 1,687.5 pounds, the world’s largest taco was unveiled Friday night at the 14th Annual “Sabor de Mexico Lindo” festival in downtown Huntington Park. The record-breaking attempt was organized by sales and marketing executives at La Opinion newspaper working in a community partnership with The Greater Huntington Park Chamber of Commerce.

The attempt was to break the Guinness Book or World Records title held by the city of Mexicali in the northern most point of Baja California, Mexico held since 2003. The final stats of this taco which measured 46 feet, 10 inches in length, and 2 and a half feet wide are: 1,224.5 pounds of carne asada (grilled steak), 196 pounds of chopped onions, 123.5 pounds of cilantro, 107 pounds of salsa, and a corn tortilla that weighed 36.5 pounds.

The process was started early Friday, October 6th with 8 employees of the Margarita Jones Restaurant chopping over 200 pounds of onions donated by NEMCO Food Products, they’re produce supplier who also provided over 150 lbs of cilantro. Over 1,830 pounds of steak meat was provided by Bonanza Meat Company.

When the meat arrived at about 4:00 PM, the team immediately began grilling on 3 super-sized gas BBQ grills and by 6:45 PM, the taco began to take shape on the large corn tortilla provided by Diana’s Mexican Foods Company of Huntington Park. At the official weighing Alex Gomez from La Opinion and Mayor Juan Noguez from The City of Huntington Park noticed that they were losing nearly 60% of the meat weight as the fat was being burned off in the cooking process. “We started calling restaurants from our community,” said Mayor Noguez, “El Gallo Giro, Tacos Mexico, Tacos Chente, Guelaltquetzal Restaurant, and the Waikikie Hawaiian BBQ restaurants all came together to help us with this record-breaking endeavor.”

After more than 6 hours of grilling steak, the final weigh-in at 10:15 PM was witnessed officially by Mayor Noguez, Vice-Mayor Elba Guerrero, board members of The Greater Huntington Park Chamber of Commerce, officials from Westwing Insurance, and La Opinion and notarized by Jessica Munoz, a local notary public.

Official results along with pictures are being sent to the Guinness World Records, keeper and publisher of the Guinness Book of World Records for certification.

The event was held as part of the City of Huntington Park’s 100th Anniversary, La Opinion’s 80th Anniversary and La Opinion Contigo’s first anniversary. The Sabor de Mexico Lindo Festival is in its 14th year and has drawn more than 400,000 people to taste food and enjoy 2 days of family entertainment.