Nigerian female chef Hilda Effiong Bassey (popularly known as Hilda Baci) on Monday set a new Guinness World Record for the longest cooking duration by an individual.

Hilda Baci cooked for 100 hours starting from Thursday, May 11 to Monday, May 15, breaking the previous record of 87 hours, 45 minutes set by chef Lata Tandon from Rewa Madhya Pradesh, India, in 2019.

For 100 hours non-stop, the 27-year-old graduate of Sociology from Madonna University Okija, Anambra State, cooked a total of 35 sides, soups, cold dishes, and sauces, mostly Nigerian cuisine.

On Hilda Baci’s sides menu list include party jollof, coconut rice, native rice, asun rice, fried rice, native pasta, Jollof pasta, porridge yam, porridge plantain, mashed potatoes, and white rice soups.

Hilda Baci

The soups menu include chicken curry, edika ikong, egusi, oha, afang, fisherman soup, nsala, goatmeat pepper soup, seafood okra, and ofe akwu.

Hilda Baci’s breakfast/cold dishes menu had akara, pancake, burger, chicken wraps, abacha, and African breadfruit, while the sauces/meats menu contained goatmeat stew, buka stew, peppered turkey, peppered chicken, fried fish, peppered fish, turkey stew, and ofada sauce.

Through the 100 hours of cooking, with only five minutes of rest permitted per hour, the TV presenter, actress, chef and CEO of MYFOODBYHILDA fed some 3,000 people from the dishes she cooked from Amore’s Garden in Lekki, Lagos-Nigeria.

The Akwa Ibom-born chef, who is known to give words of encouragement and motivational talks using her chef career as a great example, grew up under a chef-mother who runs a food business called Calabar Pot Mama.

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The young lady, who said it has always been her dream to break a record in the Guinness Book of Records, not only achieved that dream but also set a new record of 100 hours instead of the initial 96 hours signed.

Hilda Baci

“The journey to the cook-a-thon started five years ago. It is one of my biggest aspirations and I am glad that I took the bold step to embark on this adventure. I have taken time to prepare for this psychologically and I am proud to finally take on this challenge,” Baci told reporters at the beginning.

“The cook-a-thon is also an opportunity to tell some of the positive stories that come from Africa through the meals that we make. This attempt is also proof of the strength young people can exhibit with the right platform and support. I look forward to receiving support from people across the world to achieve this feat,” she said.

While she cooked Hilda Baci, who was supported by her assistant, Chef Sunny, and few other staff who helped with the dishing of food and cleaning, was only allowed to eat food, take drinks, fruits and glucose. No medications, no energy drinks,

Hilda Baci

She equally received a lot of support and encouragement in the course of the cook-a-thon, including from the political elite and celebrities. For instance, Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his Akwa-Ibom counterpart, Udom Emmanuel, singer Tiwa Savage, among several others, came out to show their support.

All over the internet, there was much love expressed for Hilda, including on her social media pages. Her Instagram account got verified in the process and her social media pages got thousands of followers from all over the world. There were music, foods, drinks, pastries, songs and every other kind of entertainment at the venue.

Hilda Baci has been making Nigerians proud as she was the winner of the 2021 Jollof Face-off war against Ghana.