Wilmington Stirs World’s Largest Menudo

By M. Smith, Editorial Intern

A well-known hangover remedy spiced up Wilmington this past month and broke the world record for the largest menudo soup.

On Jan. 28, Wilmington made history.  Juanita’s Foods, based in that Los Angeles community, along with culinary instructors and students from The Art Institutes cooked up 2,435 pounds of menudo, making the Guinness  World Record.

Hundreds flocked to the Harbor Area community to witness the event, taste the food and participate in the celebration. The event included live performance, celebrities, food tents, activities for children and contests. Mexican celebrities Angélica María, her daughter Angélica Vale and singer Jonatan Sánchez also joined the festivities.

“A lot of people of different cultures enjoy my [people’s] food,”  said Claudia Mendoza, who attended the event. “I feel so happy because it is a Mexican food and they continue the tradition.”

The Mexican speciality soup was cooked in a 300-gallon kettle with 980 pounds of tripe in beef bone stock and 600 hominy and 171 pounds of spices.

“The first time I ever heard of menudo was for this event,” said Marcello Lambert, a chef from South Carolina who was awarded a Juanita’s Vive la Tradición Homemade Menudo Contest scholarship.

He helped prepare the ingredients for the menudo kettle.

“It was a team effort,” Lambert said. “You don’t have to be part of the tradition to keep the tradition alive.”

Juanita’s Foods, founded in 1946 by George de la Torre Sr. and his Albert Guerrero , is a third-generation family-owned business in Wilmington. The business has grown to be the No. 1 in menudo sales in the United States. Besides placing Wilmington on national map, Juanita’s prides itself in its service to the  community and providing scholarships to local college bound youth.

“Juanita’s Foods has been a staple in the community,” said Los Angeles District 15 Councilman Joe Buscaino field deputy Fernando Navarrete. “It’s amazing to have them as neighbors in here in Wilmington.”

After the event Juanita’s donated the remaining menudo to local charities such as the Dream Center is a Pentecostal Christian Church in Los Angeles.