Nigerian Chef, Hilda Baci has finally been awarded the record for the world’s longest cooking marathon.
This comes after a thorough review of all the evidence submitted to the Guinness World Records.
Officially Hilda Effiong Bassey, has now broken the record for the longest cooking marathon (individual). The previous record of 87 hours 45 minutes was set by Lata Tondon (India) in 2019.
She set a new record at a time of 93 hours 11 minutes starting to cook on Thursday 11 May and continued through to Monday 15 May.
She cooked over 100 pots of food during her four-day kitchen stint.
Hilda’s team had claimed that the record time was over 100 hours, however, seven hours were deducted from her final total because she mistakenly took extra minutes for one of her rest breaks early on in the attempt.
This is because with ‘longest marathon’ records, the participant is permitted a five-minute rest break for every continuous hour of activity. These rest breaks can be accumulated if not taken. They were the only times Hilda could use the bathroom or sleep during the attempt.
Hilda attempted this record to “put Nigerian cuisine on the map” and “to inspire young African women to chase their dreams.”
“I also decided to break this record to truly push my limits and test my abilities,” she added.
Hilda prepared for the event by creating a 35-item menu “as a guide” for every meal that she would cook.
She ensured that she had the necessary ingredients to make each recipe, with her team procuring further food items while the cook-a-thon was underway “based on what was needed to be topped up.”
Hilda meet all the rules during her record-breaking cook-a-thon:
- There must be at least two items being prepared or cooked at any time
- A sous-chef is permitted to assist in prep work, washing up, and cleaning the kitchen area, but all the cooking must be done by the individual attempting the record
- One of the most important rules of our food-related record attempts is that all items must be consumed after cooking. To this end, Hilda invited any and all members of the Nigerian public to come and eat her freshly made meals. All leftover food was donated to the Festus Fajemilo Foundation.
“My team’s and my goal for this event was to make it free to all and to feed the less privileged,” Hilda said.
According to Hilda, each pot of food she cooked was big enough to serve 30-35 people, and “appropriate stock control was conducted” to avoid any wastage of food.
Congratulations to Hilda for this massive achievement.
