A Nigerian chef named Hilda Effiong Bassey, popularly known as Hilda Baci, has set a new world record for the “longest cooking marathon by an individual”.
She entered the cooking project Thursday, May 11, 2023, aiming to beat the current record of 87 hours and 45 minutes set by Indian chef Lata Tandon in 2019.
Baci, 27, cooked over 100 different dishes since turning on her cooker at 15:00 GMT on Thursday and brought the challenge to an end Monday night, 15 May, 2023.
She finally turned off the flame under her pot after cooking non-stop for 100 hours and 40 minutes to set a new Guinness World Record.
Initially, she planned to cook for 96 hours – until 15:00GMT on Monday.
But the crowd camped outside the venue cheered and persuaded her to keep going until she hit the 100-hour mark.
Guinness World Records says it is reviewing the evidence before saying if she has broken the record.
Though no officials of the organisation are at the venue in the upmarket area of Lekki in Lagos, CCTV cameras have been installed to monitor the event.
She cooked mostly Nigerian meals, such as jollof rice, as well as different types of rice and pasta, and has also made akara – a popular street food made from deep-fried mashed beans. The food were handed out to invited guests.
She was allowed one assistant at a time, and took a five-minute break each hour, or the equivalent over several hours.
23 Facts about Hilda Baci and her cooking marathon you probably did not know.
1) Her real name is Hilda Bassey Effiong. She is a young Nigerian chef from Akwa Ibom State.
2) She owns a food brand in Lagos called “My Food by Hilda”
3) She is 27 years of age.
4) She will be cooking for 5 days non-stop.
5) She must stand to cook, she is not permitted to sit while cooking.
6) She’s not allowed to take coffee, stimulants, or any energy drink to artificially boost her energy and bodily strength while cooking.
7) She’s allowed to eat food, drink water or fruit juice, & take glucose
8) The cooking is taking place at Amore Gardens, Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria.
9) She cooks round the clock, no sleep (Morning, afternoon, evening, and night. So, for 4 nights, she won’t sleep).
10) She has just 5 minutes rest per hour [meaning for every 1 hour, she is entitled to just 5 minutes rest or break, that’s an hour break in every 12 hours].
11) She gets a 30-minute break every 6 hours, she spends the 30mins in a medical van which is just close by, within which she can nap, use the restroom, and also get a medical assessment or checkup by the medical team available on the spot.
12) Whatever she cooks is shared with the people at the venue for FREE. She is not selling the food.
13) She cooks different meals simultaneously. She is at liberty to cook any meal she likes.
14) There are no restrictions as to what she can cook or not cook.
15) The World Record title is about cooking within a time frame, not about what is cooked. As long as she is cooking, she is on track.
16) Every meal cooked and every plate served is recorded.
17) She has cooked over 115 meals so far with almost 3,000 portions if not more by the time you are reading this.
18) She started the cooking on Thursday and is expected to complete the target time frame by Monday 15th May 2023 evening.
19) The current holder of the title Hilda seeks to break is an Indian chef Lata Tandon, who set a Guinness World Record for cooking for 87 hours and 45 minutes non-stop in 2019.
20) To break the record, Hilda Baci is attempting to cook for 96 hours, using extra 9 hours to break the world record as the first human on earth to spend such an amount of time cooking a marathon.
21) She tagged the cooking project “Cook-a-thon”, a phrase literally coined from the word “marathon”
22) She appears exhausted already, but the people around her are cheering her on to boost her morale. And they are available with her as she cook 247, even at night.
23) Most of the food items, ingredients, utensils, etc she used for this project are provided by her sponsors. So, the money expended on this project is not 100% from Hilda or her Food brand.
24) Uber, one of her partners is offering a 40% discounted ride to the venue for people who wishes to join and cheer her up at the venue.
25) Hilda’s mum is also a chef. She owns a food brand called “Calabar Pot”