“Yes, we’re in bad shape, but if we can make the biggest taco in the world. …”
–Rocio Valdez, a receptionist in Mexico, commenting in the New York Times on the nation’s recent efforts to claim several Guinness World Records. Amidst the economic crisis, swine flu and the rise in drug-related violence, Mexico’s citizens have distracted themselves by producing the world’s largest meatball (109 pounds), constructing the world’s longest catwalk (4,332 feet), and convening the world’s largest gathering of dancers grooving to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (almost 13,000). Turns out, such strange ways of striving for superiority aren’t so new: Mexico already owns the record for world’s biggest taco–a 1,654-pound concoction dished up in 2003. –Jessica Shambora