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'My gingerbread village is bigger than yours'

Richard Orange
Richard Orange - [email protected]
'My gingerbread village is bigger than yours'
A detail from New York's Gingerbread Lane -- New York Hall of Science

A battle has broken out between Bergen and New York over which city has constructed the world's largest gingerbread village.

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On 17 November, a 135-house village constructed in Queen's, New York, was officially named "the world's largest gingerbread village" by the Guinness Book of Records. 
 
But Bergen on Tuesday unveiled a village more than ten times as big, with no fewer than 1,990 trains and buildings spread out over 380 square meters. 
 
"Once again we have the record. It's just totally amazing, we simply have the largest, most beautiful and best gingerbread city in the universe," Steinar Kristoffersen, who leads the city's 'Pepperkakebyen' project said at the opening. 
 
New York immediately rebutted the claim, however, arguing that Bergen falls short on important technicalities. 
 
"The Norwegian village does not meet the guidelines as it is spread out over a large space,"  Meryl Pearlstein, a New York PR  professional, wrote on the Guinness website. 
 
"The yearly gingerbread city in Bergen, Norway is bigger than the official world record," Bergen resident Ørjan Jacobsen Fjeldstad shot back under her entry. 
 
Thomas Ottosson, who works with Kristoffersen on the project, told The Local that the Bergen village had not yet decided whether to approach Guinness this year, as it did not have recipes for each of the buildings, which were baked by schools and individuals across the city. 
 
"The difference is that the one in New York is all made from the same recipe, and when it's the same recipe he can make sure that all of it is edible," he said. "Guinness have some rules that everything should be edible, and they need the recipes." 
 
The New York village, which is on display at the New York Hall of Science in Corona, a part of of Queens, was all built by Jon Lovitch,  a New York chef. 

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