What do you get when you thread 3,100kg of beef, 3,600 onions, 24,500 dried peaches and 4,500 green peppers on to steel rods?

ArcelorMittal’s Newcastle Works in South Africa has made it into the Guinness Book of Records with a 2 km-long braaied kebab – the world’s longest!

Employees from the Newcastle Works site made the 2,047.47 metre-long kebab in an attempt to break the previous South African kebab record of 1,554 km. Needless to say, a lot of preparation went into this day.

The kebab had to be cooked as 1 continuous piece. The total of 2,047 metres was divided into 50-metre lengths. 41 groups of 11 ‘kebab assemblers’ threaded the meat, vegetables and peaches on to steel rods. These were then joined and cooked over 15, 000 kg of charcoal, smouldering in specially-dug trenches.

Despite the pouring rain, the enthusiasm of the teams could not be dampened. Rob Molly, Guinness representative and Adjudicator for the Guinness Book of Records, attended the event to confirm the new world record. “I’ve adjudicated a lot of record-breaking attempts and the energy and organisation to achieve this attempt is up with the best of them”, he said.

The record would not have been possible without the help of all the employees, contractors and external organisations that took part. The event was the ideal opportunity to involve the community and make donations towards those less privileged. Close to 50% of the kebab was donated to various charity organisations.

Author: Liezel Joubert, ArcelorMittal South Africa