Two French chefs, hungry for a record, joined forces with a cheesemaker and YouTube star to craft a cheesy masterpiece: a pizza topped with a mind-blowing 1,001 cheeses. Benoit Bruel and Fabien Montellanico, along with Sophie Hatat Richart-Luna and Florian OnAir, surpassed the previous record of 834 cheeses, etching their cheesy feat in the Guinness World Records.
According to GWR, Benoit has achieved this record once before, in 2020, when he made a pizza with 254 different cheeses. He has now almost quadrupled that number after spending five months scouring France for more varieties of cheese. His efforts earned him an additional record for the largest display of cheese varieties (1,001), taking the title from fellow Frenchman Philippe Marchand, who procured an assortment of 730 cheeses in 2016.
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Benoit shared that numerous farmers and cheese producers generously provided him with their cheeses without charge, drawn to the notion of contributing to a global record. Among the cheeses, 940 originate from France, with the remaining 61 sourced from diverse countries across the globe.
"It's been a real feat being among the cheesemakers as well as being on the farms to meet the producers who are so passionate about their profession," Benoit said.
A cubic piece weighing two grams from each cheese was sliced and positioned atop the pizza crust, arranging the softer cheeses over the firmer ones.
"We had to pre-cook the pizza dough to prevent it from tearing up with the weight of all that cheese," Benoit explained.
