Thatsa Lotsa Mozzarella!

Chefs look to establish a record for the biggest Caprese salad at Little Italy Mercato weekend event

By RON DONOHO
Updated 12:31 PM PDT, Thu, Jun 18, 2009

For the record, a Caprese salad consists of tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella and olive oil.

The world’s largest ball of yarn is just so passé. This Saturday, local chefs will attempt to build the world’s largest ... Caprese salad. An extensive Google search turned up nothing conclusive on other oversize salad attempts. So after this weekend, the record for biggest Caprese salad is estimated to be: 24 feet (long).

The tall-order tossing takes place at The Mercato, the Little Italy farmer’s market celebrating its 1-year anniversary this month. The salad will be forked up by three chefs -- Eric Bauer of Anthology, Rob Conaway of The Glass Door and Joe Magnanelli of the currently-being-re-vamped Cucina Urbano (formerly Laurel) -- and three culinary students.

Organizers estimate it will take less than an hour to make history and rock the Cabrese world. The supersalad will be portioned off and sold to the viewing audience. Proceeds will go to Kinder Garden, an actual garden program run by Washington Elementary School.

Mercato meistra Catt White is proud of how far the farmer’s market has come in one year.

“Every farmer’s market has its own characteristics,” White said. “We’re European-style, with a focus on farmers.”

In the beginning, there were 38 booths; now there are 82. There’s room for about 15 more.

On any given weekend (The Mercato is held every Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.), upward of 3,000 people come to shop. But you can image that with the record-size Caprese salad going up, years from now 10 times that amount will claim to have been there. 

Ron Donoho is a regular contributor to NBCSandiego.com and a contributing editor to sandiego.com. His Web site (sandiegoDTOWN.com) is dedicated to news, sports, culture, happy hours and all things downtown.

Send Ron a Tip or Invite Here

First Published: Jun 17, 2009 4:20 PM PDT

  • 0% furious 0
  • 0% sad 0
  • 0% bored 0
  • 0% thrilled 0
  • 0% intrigued 0
  • 0% laughing 0
processing
      No comments have been posted yet.

      You have 2000 characters left

      processing
      So My City

      You are posting in (change)

      550/550 characters

      (jpg, pngs, or gifs allowed)

      (jpg, pngs, or gifs allowed)
      *Tip: You can also post moments via email or Twitter.

      processing

      View Your Moment in

      Posted by | 1 second ago

      Don't Miss

      worth_the_drive

      Sep 5, 2010

      Last Funny Guy Standing

      Trust us, it's better to be the last one standing.

      Read It

      events

      Sep 5, 2010

      9/5: Show Your Patriotic Side

      It's Labor Day Weekend and what better time to show your red, white and blue!

      Read It

      food_drink

      Sep 4, 2010

      BBQ Bargains

      Tips on saving big bucks this holiday weekend.

      Read It
      Loading...
      Birthdate:
      You must be at least 13 to sign up.
      Gender:
      invalid

      By clicking the button below, I accept the terms of use and privacy policy

      Already Signed Up? Login Below.

      processing

      Here's what we're posting:

      *Only used for verification. We do not store your password.
      processing