Largest
Bowl of Oatmeal - world record set by Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada
WINNIPEG, Canada -- During the Agriculture
in the City's opening ceremonies at The Forks, volunteers
working with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Dr. Nancy
Ames and Agriculture in the Classroom – Manitoba prepared
a 327.5 kg bowl of oatmeal - setting the new world record
for the Largest
Bowl of Oatmeal.
Photo: During the Agriculture in the
City 327.5 kilograms of oatmeal were prepared, close to double
the old Guinness world record of 171.9 kilograms
(enlarge
photo)
The world's
Largest Bowl of Oatmeal was served to about eighty
highschool students attending Agriculture in the Classroom’s
Made in Manitoba Breakfast as well as members of the general
public. Leftover oatmeal was donated to Siloam Mission and
Agape Table.
“It’s pretty big,” Richard Lavergne,
spokesman for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, said of the
effort, which involved enough oatmeal to pour into a 400-litre
pot. “If you look at a gas tank that holds 40 or 50 litres,
it’s like eight gas tanks.”
Once dozens of litres of water came to a
boil in a 400-litre pot, participants added about 68 kg of
locally-grown oats, which were processed in Portage la Prairie
at Can-Oat Milling, a division of Viterra.
With non-stop stirring, it took about 12 minutes
for the porridge to thicken and become table-ready. Samples
were given to the students and visitors. The rest was given
to two inner-city shelters.
Organizers said the goal of the event, conducted
in front of dozens of students, was to encourage people to
eat breakfast -- said to be the most important meal of the
day -- promote healthy eating and the work of Manitoba's oat
growers and processors, and raise awareness about Canada's
oat research.
"We're excited to bring this record to Manitoba,
where we have so many oat producers producing such high-quality
food oat," said Dr. Nancy Ames, a research scientist with
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Oatmeal is a porridge made from ground
oat groats (i.e. oat-meal, cf. cornmeal, peasemeal, etc.),
(also called oatmeal cereal or stirabout, in Ireland). Oatmeal
can also be ground oat, steel-cut oats, crushed oats, or rolled
oats.
Agriculture in the City is a free, three-day
event at Forks Market, which aims to educate city folks about
food science and farming.
The event was sponsored and organized by
a committee of stakeholders from the Manitoba agriculture
industry, including: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in partnership
with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, Agriculture
in the Classroom, Keystone Agricultural Producers, the University
of Manitoba, the Manitoba Eggs Producers and the Manitoba
Pork Council.
