By Adedapo Adesanya
Guinness World Records (GWR) has now confirmed that Ms Hilda Effiong Bassey, better known as Hilda Baci, has officially broken the record for the longest cooking marathon (individual), with a time of 93 hours 11 minutes.
The 26-year-old Nigerian chef began on Thursday, May 11, and continued through to Monday, May 15, cooking over 100 pots of food during her four-day kitchen stint.
According to the official message from the body, Ms Hilda Baci attempted to set a record of 100 hours, however, almost 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.
“As with all 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.”
The previous record of 87 hours 45 minutes was set by Lata Tondon (India) in 2019.
According to Guinness World Records, 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,” it added.
Hilda Baci’s longest cooking record attempt took the world of social media by storm, with millions in Nigeria and beyond following her progress via an Instagram live stream.
The body noted that her cook-a-thon was so popular that its website crashed for two days due to the immense volume of traffic received from her fans.
Several high-profile Nigerian figures visited Hilda Baci to support her during her record attempt, such as the former Vice President of Nigeria, Mr Yemi Osinbajo; the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu; and award-winning singer, Tiwa Savage.
Speaking on her pursuit, the Madonna University graduate said, “My team’s, and my goal for this event was to make it free to all and to feed the less privileged.”
It was also revealed that 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.
