Hilda Effiong Bassey, also known as Hilda Baci, is a multi-talented TV producer, actor, and culinary entrepreneur who is close to shattering the record for the longest cooking session by a single person in the history of the world.
Ms. Hilda made this official announcement in an Instagram post on April 2nd, indicating that she would fulfill a desire she had had for five years. She stated that she would cook for four days and four nights to surpass the record of 87 hours, 45 minutes set by Chef Lata London in Rewa, India in 2019.
In order to accommodate the additional attendees who registered, the event had to be postponed from its original April 28 start date to May 11 at Amore Gardens in Lekki, Lagos.
She commented “I’m on it” in response to Guinness World Records’ tweet that stated “today is a good day to break a world record.” on Sunday.
Nigerians have pledged their support for Ms. Hilda, who has put in over 70 hours of effort and isn’t giving up.
What you should know about the competition
The following requirements must be met by Hilda in order for her to break the record for the longest chef in the world:
- She must stand to cook; she is not permitted to sit while cooking.
- She’s not allowed to take coffee, stimulants, or any energy drink to artificially boost her energy and bodily strength while cooking.
- She’s allowed to eat food, drink water or fruit juice, and take glucose.
- She cooks round the clock, no sleep (Morning, afternoon, evening, and night. So, for 4 nights, she won’t sleep).
- 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].Other sources claim 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.
- Whatever she cooks is shared to the people at the venue for FREE. She is not selling the food.
- She cooks different meals simultaneously. She is at liberty to cook any meal she likes. There are no restrictions as to what she can cook or not cook. 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.
- Every meal cooked and every plate served is recorded.
So far, Hilda has cooked over 115 meals so far with almost 3,000 portions if not more.
The record breaking chef started the cooking on Thursday and is expected to complete the target time frame by Monday 15th May, 2023.
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.
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.