Venezuela-World-Record-Largest-Hallaca
Workers cook a giant hallaca - a mixture of beef, pork, chicken, raisins, capers, and olives wrapped in cornmeal dough and folded within plantain leaves, a typical Venezuelan Christmas dish, during an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest hallaca, in Caracas November 15, 2014. The giant hallaca more than 120 meters long. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Venezuela's government may be trying to save Christmas amidst all the shortages and black market retailing, but all that has not stopped them from trying to break a world record.

The Associated Press reports that cooks, in collaboration with the Ministry of Nutrition, have created the world's biggest hallaca -- a variation of the tamale that is a Venezuelan staple during the holidays. The Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that the hallaca created, which measured almost 400 feet in length, is truly the world's largest. The hallaca made had pork, beef, chicken, olives and raisins that was stuffed in corn dough and wrapped in a banana leaf.

Legend has it that hallaca was created during the colonial era of Venezuela, when plantation owners would compile all the leftover Christmas foods and wrap them in corn dough and a banana leaf. That said, others believe the hallaca is a variation of the Spanish empanada.

And that's not all! The event also featured the world's largest pan de jamon (ham in sweet bread), which is another holiday specialty in Venezuela.

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