What drew Nigerians to Hilda Baci's cooking marathon wasn’t just the possible triumph of a world record but the allure of audacious hope.
On 02 April, 2023, Nigerian chef and restaurateur, Hilda Baci (born Hilda Effiong Bassey) announced her plan to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual. In a social media post, Baci stated that she had been ‘planning this for five whole years.’ This record is currently in the hands of Indian chef, Lata Tandon. On 07 September 2019, the London-based chef broke the previous record of 68 hours 30 minutes and 01 second when she cooked non-stop for 87 hours and 45 minutes. On Monday morning, Baci smashed this record and went on to cook for over 100 hours (for every one hour on her feet, she had five minutes of rest).
Baci is not new to cooking competitions; she took part in the inaugural Jollof Face-off Competition in 2021 where she secured top spot, taking home the prize of $5000. Since Baci began her quest at 4 p.m. last Thursday and turned off the stove at around 8 p.m. on Monday, she has continued to receive support from Nigerians...
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