Veggie brats spoil record attempt

MADISON, Wis., June 1 (UPI) -- Boca brand veggie brats were sold last weekend for the first time at the World's Largest Brat Fest in Madison, Wis., -- thwarting a world record try.

The 8,600 meatless sausages were not included in the final count of 181,710 brats sold during the Memorial Day weekend event. That meant festival bratwurst sales fell short of last year's record of 189,432, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Wednesday.

The definition of a bratwurst is a "pork sausage with seasoning," festival organizer Tim Metcalfe told the newspaper, so the Boca vegetarian brats cannot be "technically" classified as a brat. And, he added, neither can the 33,760 hot dogs sold during the event.

"If you want to call them sausages, we sold a lot of them," Metcalfe said. "We'll let the vegans and the brat lovers get together and between the both of them, we think they both set a record ... but for all the years, we've been just counting brats."