The World's Largest Continental Breakfast Was Provided By Nutella

One of the best parts about going on vacation is the hotel breakfast. That's a bold claim, but hotels typically offer everything from a lavish, endless breakfast buffet to a more modest continental breakfast. So what actually makes a continental breakfast? According to Kitchn, it's a lighter way to start the day and typically consists of items that won't go bad if left out for a few hours, like muffins, peanut butter, coffee, and tea. While you can find plenty of hotels that offer continental breakfasts here in the U.S., the phrase actually came from Britain in the 1800s, when "the continent" was used to describe a breakfast like the ones on continental Europe (via Everybody Craves).

Although continental breakfasts are usually smaller than big American or English ones, that doesn't have to mean they're boring. In fact, some even come with an entire omelette station, which is what USA Today ranked as their top continental breakfast food of all time. And back in 2005, the world's biggest continental breakfast was hosted by Nutella.

While it originally started as a paste made from hazelnuts, sugar, and cocoa, we know Nutella today as the delicious hazelnut-based treat that you can spread on bread, drizzle on ice cream, or just down by the spoonful (via Nutella). But did you know that in 2005, Nutella provided the largest continental breakfast ever — in Germany? According to Facts.net, Nutella celebrated its 40th anniversary in Gelsenkirchen, Germany with a continental breakfast, which ended up becoming so big that the Guinness Book of World Records recognized it as the largest continental breakfast in the world.

While attendees were of course treated to the delectable hazelnut spread, they also were given bread rolls, orange juice, butter, cream cheese, and a yogurt drink — a true continental breakfast indeed. And if you're wondering how many people it took to make this the biggest event of its kind, the German celebration consisted of 27,854 people (via Guinness World Records).

But while this Nutella-centric party is credited with the most attendees at a continental breakfast, it's not the only continental breakfast record-winner. According to Gulf News, Dubai is where the most nationalities had a continental breakfast together at one time, with people from 101 different nationalities coming together for a Breakfast for Diversity event. Meanwhile, the winner for largest-ever continental breakfast involving multiple venues, according to Guinness World Records, goes to Hong Kong, where 91,591 people attended the event at 144 different venues.