A 27 year old Nigerian, Hilda Bassey popularly known as “Hilda Baci” is looking to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual.
The current record stands at 87 hours, 45 minutes and 00 seconds set by an Indian Chef, Chef Lata Tandon.
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HOW DID IT START?
As a young girl, she was obsessed with the Guinness Book of Records and wanted her name to be on it but now it’s all about inspiring the next generation to pursue their dreams.
Many didn’t believe in the idea up until she talked to Nowe Isibor, a former cooking student under her in November 2022, she bought the idea and everything clicked, she became the Project Manager (Lady in jacket).
She applied a couple of times before it was finally approved by Guinness, they accepted her challenge, emailed her the guidelines and set up her dashboard.
Take away
- Get someone that believes in your dream and is willing to invest in it.
- Keep applying until you get your YES.
HOW DOES SHE INTEND TO ACHIEVE IT?
She intends to cook for 4 days starting on the 11th of March to the 15th of March, 2023 in a project named, “COOK-A-THON”.
She will be cooking for 97 HOURS, and she and her team came up with over 100 recipes with over 80% of them being Nigerian recipes.
She will be making many different types of soups, porridge, rice and pasta. It will be a public event that people can eat as much as they can whilst having fun too.
Takeaway
- “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads”
– Habakkuk 2:2-3
Have a vision, write it down and work with it.
WHAT WAS HER PREPARATION LIKE?
Earlier this year, she attempted a 24-hour dry run cooking contest in preparation for this world record attempt.
She cooked for 24hours starting on the 12th of April to 13th of April.
She did 6 hours then rested for 30 minutes, she didn’t drink too much water to avoid going to the toilet too much and also worked with a nutritionist that adjusted her diet to avoid too much bowel movement.
Takeaway
- Preparation is key and having a team around you is also very important.
WHAT ARE THE RULES?
For 97 hours starting from the 11th of May to the 15th, Hilda will cook.
The guidelines allow her to have assistants to help her prep by, washing, peeling, chopping, and opening seasonings but not do anything related to the pot and fire.
She would do so standing and have just five minutes break per hour. She could decide to accumulate her five minutes break or take it after every hour.
And from what we’ve seen so far, she’s accumulating her 5 minutes breaks which looks smart as she continues on her attempt at the world record.
HOW WILL SHE BE ASSESSED?
At the completion of the 4-Day Challenge, she will send Guinness World Record a video evidence.
They will assess the video evidence of the challenge and then update the dashboard to say if she has broken the world record or failed.
They will monitor the breaks and make sure she adhered strictly to them and making sure nobody helped her do the actual cooking.
FUN FACT ABOUT HILDA BACI
Do you guys know that in August 2021, Hilda Baci represented Nigeria in the “Jellof Face Off” competition against Ghana and won.
She faced with Ghanaian representative, Leslie and defeated her, and in the process winning $5,000.
She’s been representing Nigeria well and we’re all rooting for her to win in this world record attempt.
Credits: SportsDokita
