Students and staff from Emory University Dining’s Green Team today tried to set the record for building the longest line of tacos in the world. Over 66 feet long, the tacos were made with tortillas, sustainable cod supplied by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, cabbage salad and salsa cruda. The recipe was developed by campus executive chef Michael Wetli.
Tacopalooza began shortly after noon, with tortillas donated by local producer Los Amigos overlapping on a U-shaped grouping tables big enough to seat the royal wedding party.
Record-making is serious business, so the tacos were counted and recounted. Here, Mollie Walsh, the executive chef for sustainability at Emory makes a pass through. Walsh said that fully 38% of all food served at Emory now is from sustainable sources. The goal is 75%.
“Hot fish!” chef Michael Lyle cried, as he placed the filleted cod — which had been dusted with chili, cumin, salt and pepper — onto the tortillas. Kitchen helper Galen Berry kept him in fish as he made his way down the line.
“We’ve got to keep the fish in the center,” Lyle said to his staff, “so we can fold the tacos.”
Chefs followed with scoops of lime/cilantro slaw and salsa cruda, and the tacos folded beautifully.
Before the students could descend on this linear feast, taco tabulators Jack Regan (left) and John Bertrand — chef at the nearby sustainable fish restaurant, Goin’ Coastal Seafood — gave the tacos one last count. They are charged with writing to the Guinness Book of World Records. As there is no previous record for touching tacos, it should be a shoo-in.
1, 2, 3…260! They all touch. Like vultures to carrion, the Emory student body descended on the taco chain.
Senior Justin Kosloff told me his taco was “pretty good.” Did he learn anything about sustainability?
“I actually didn’t know it was sustainable,” he admitted. “But that makes it cooler, I guess.”