NIGERIA CHEF HILDA BACI BREAKS WORLD RECORD FOR LONGEST SOLO COOKING

Wed 14 June 2023:

Guinness World Records (GWR) has officially recognized a Nigerian chef’s efforts to beat the record for nonstop cooking.

Hilda Baci became a national phenomenon last month after cooking for four days.

She cooked for 100 hours – and was allowed a five-minute break each hour or the equivalent over several hours.

Hilda Baci, 26, who trained at the gym to stay on her feet for the four days needed to break the record last month, had said her May 11-15 bid was meant to help “put Nigerian cuisine on the map”.

After her marathon cooking session, she spoke about what had motivated her: “I just knew that I need to do something that is… out of the ordinary to put myself on the map, to put Nigeria on the map, to put young African women on the map.”

“I want Nigerian recipes to be propagated across the world. You know, I want it to be a normal thing to make Egusi soup in an American home,” Baci told journalists after her attempt.

“I want you to be able to walk into any random supermarket and find Nigerian ingredients.”

Baci’s record attempt captured the attention of her home country at a time when many Nigerians are struggling with high inflation, fuel shortages and other economic woes.

While she was cooking, several high-profile figures visited Baci, including Lagos’ state governor, the country’s then vice president and Nigerian Afrobeats music star Tiwa Savage.

Chef Baci, 27, used more than 100 different dishes from when she turned on her cooker at 15:00 GMT on Thursday 11 May. She stopped cooking on the following Monday.

No GWR officials were at the event in the upmarket area of Lekki in Lagos, but they later reviewed the footage that had been recorded from CCTV cameras.

In her record-breaking effort Baci cooked mostly Nigerian meals, such as jollof rice, as well as different types of rice and pasta, and also made akara – a popular street food made from deep-fried mashed beans. The food was handed out to invited guests.

This is not Baci’s first success — she once hosted a TV cooking show and represented Nigeria to win a regional cook-off competition to make the classic West African dish of spicy jollof rice.

Hilda prepared for the event by creating a 35-item menu “as a guide” for every meal that she would cook.

Guinness World Records said in a statement: “Following a thorough review of all the evidence, Guinness World Records can now confirm that … Hilda Baci has now officially broken the record for the longest cooking marathon [individual].”

Guinness said she broke the previous record of 87 hours, 45 minutes set by an Indian chef in 2019.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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