Largest cabbage dish

On 19 December 2008, the patron’s day of Prilep, the town of Prilep in the Republic of Macedonia, officially became part of Guinness World Records.

80,191 cabbage rolls or ‘sarma’, were prepared for every citizen of town; thus Prilep attempted to set a Guinness World Record under the category of largest cabbage dish.

The traditional sarma was prepared by the skillful hands of 160 women volunteers of the Prerodba women association, NGO Mother-Tradition and the VMRO-DPMNE Union of women. The sarma, which the size of a hazelnut, was prepared in the EURO Restaurant, and within the course of 6 hours the 160 women prepared the 80,191 cabbage rolls.

In order to be authentic in taste and size, the sarmas were in miniature dimensions, 10x10 mm. It takes an enormous amount of skill to make them, since in a very small cabbage leaf one should wrap enough grains of rice to be boiled in the best way possible.

Talal Omar, Guinness World Records adjudicator, weighed the container which contained the sarmas and made sure that everything took place according to Guinness World Records guidelines. The net weight of the cabbage dish was exactly 544 kg (1,221 lbs).

“This is my first time in Macedonia and I am really excited by the entire event, I’ve also tasted your famous sarma and I can say it is really delicious,” Talal Omar said.