From Kitchen to Guinness: Hilda Baci Cooks Her Way to a World Record

Nearly a month after Hilda Baci completed what is now known to be the longest cooking marathon, thereby completely conquering the Internet, the Guinness World Records has finally made a decision: The 26-year-old Nigerian chef is now officially the new record holder in the individual category, surpassing India’s Lata Tondon’s 2019 record of 87 hours, 45 minutes, and 00 seconds.

Guinness' strict criteria for claiming the award included:

• The requirement for two or more items to be prepared/cooked simultaneously,

• The number, name, and weight of each cooked item had to be measured and submitted, supported with evidence,

• All items had to be consumed after cooking.

Even though Hilda, the restaurant owner and head chef at My Food by Hilda, adhered to these guidelines and carried on the marathon for 100 hours, due to technicalities and what Guinness describes as a “miscalculation when it came to Hilda’s rest breaks”, she has been accredited with the record of 93 hours and 11 minutes instead.

Hilda initiated this record-breaking event on Thursday, May 11, and cooked relentlessly until Monday, May 15, 2023. To prepare for the event, she reportedly created a 35-item menu “as a guide” for every meal that would be cooked.

According to the Guinness World Records, the cook-a-thon was so popular that their website crashed for two days due to "the immense volume of traffic received from her legion of loyal fans". Reacting to the news of the award, Hilda posted a screenshot of the announcement tweet from the organization, exclaiming, “God Did !!!! @guinnessworldrecords”.

Previously, Hilda hosted the television show, Dine on a Budget, and went on to enter and win the inaugural Jollof Face-off competition in 2021. She triumphed over Ghana’s Leslie Kumordzie, receiving a $5000 cash prize.