Uruguay Hosts World's Largest Barbecue, Beating Argentina

December 12, 2017 2:47 AM EST

A small city in Uruguay has hosted the world’s largest known asado, winning bragging rights over a rival barbecue hotspot in Argentina.

Minas — about 65 miles northeast of Uruguay’s capital Montevideo — put almost 200 cooks to work to break the Guinness world record. Together they grilled 16.5 tonnes of raw meat for a total of 14 hours, the BBC reports.

But to steal the crown Minas still has to best the 9.16 tonne-cooked meat weight record set by the Argentine town of La Pampa in 2008. It did, by more than a tonne: Minas’s meat weighed in at a whopping 10.36 tonnes after the grilling.

“All this is not about the Guinness record, it’s about beating the Argentines,” one of the cook’s told Agence France-Presse.

Read more: This Is How It Feels to Eat 13-Year-Old Steak

Uruguay and Argentina have long had beef over who produces the best meat. Although both countries consider the gaucho, or horseman, a national symbol, Uruguay has around three times as many cows as it does people.

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