N.B. chef describes 'mayhem' of reclaiming world's longest lobster roll record from P.E.I.

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Shediac, N.B., has reclaimed its coveted title for creating the world's longest lobster roll after a fierce battle with Prince Edward Island that has lasted years.  

New Brunswick volunteers assembled the 68.2-metre lobster roll on Wednesday at the annual Shediac Lobster Festival, beating Charlottetown's 61.8 metres, and becoming the record-holder once again for longest lobster roll. 

"We're just happy that it worked out," Shediac chef Alain Bosse told As It Happens after his hometown's victory. "Now it's cleanup time."

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In September of last year, Shediac was defeated when more than a hundred people in Charlottetown lined up along a roughly 61-metre roll, stuffing marinated lobster meat inside the bread.

Bosse spoke with As It Happens guest host Robyn Bresnahan earlier in the evening as his team was putting the finishing touches on its creation.  

Here is part of that conversation: 

Mr. Bosse, are you in the room with the lobster roll right now?

I'm in the room with the lobster roll, the lobster, the people. Yeah, it's mayhem here. It's wonderful.

What does it smells like?

Lobster. A lot of lobster. All [180] pounds of lobster.

I know this might come as a bit of a shock to you, but for those people who have never actually had a lobster roll in their entire lives before, what goes into making one?  

In my case, I did a recipe of mine own that's in my recipe book.

So I did lobster, with a little bit of celery, a little bit of green onion and chives, salt and pepper and mayonnaise. And that's it. And the bread.    

And the bread, which you actually had to bake during this competition?  

No, we baked the bread yesterday. It took us 12 ½ hours to bake this bread in a pizza oven, slowly.

We pulled it a quarter of an inch at a time every 20 seconds.

What is at stake here with this competition?

Well this is the Guinness World Record. It's as simple as that.

It's a fun exchange that happens between Prince Edward Island and Shediac, New Brunswick, and it's really friendly, to be honest with you.

And every year, during their festival they beat this festival and vice versa.

You say it's a friendly rivalry, but P.E.I. won last year and the first thing that the president of the [P.E.I. Fisherman's Association] said was, "Take that, Shediac!"

Yeah, I think he's getting ready to eat his words probably.

What are you going to do to celebrate?

We're going to scream, because we've been at this for literally 48 hours non-stop.

Written by Sarah Jackson. Interview produced by Ashley Mak. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.