While officially declaring a Nigerian chef, Hilda Baci as the new cooking marathon record holder, Guinness World Records also stated that her attempt drew a lot of attention.
The body revealed that the enormous influx of traffic because of her cook-a-thon caused the Guinness World Records’ website to crash for two days.
In addition, her live Instagram stream allowed millions of people in Nigeria and all over the world to follow her record attempt as it unfolded.
Hilda Baci made a 35-item menu that she used “as a guide” for each meal that she would prepare. One of the rules was a sous-chef was allowed to help with preparation and cleanup, but the person setting the record must handle all the cooking.
She had to make sure she had all the ingredients for her recipes, but while the cook-a-thon was going on she ran out of some things and, her staff went out and bought more food “based on what was needed to be topped up.”
Each batch of food Hilda made, was large enough to feed 30-35 people, and “appropriate stock control was conducted” to prevent food waste.
One of the key guidelines of food-related record attempts is there must be no food wastage, all the food must be eaten. In order to achieve this, Baci extended an open invitation to all Nigerians to come to eat her meals and sent all unused food items to the Festus Fajemilo Foundation.
She received visits from prominent figures including the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, and popular musician Tiwa Savage to demonstrate their support for her her record-breaking endeavour.
Hilda Baci, now officially a Guinness World Records title holder, has thanked the international body for this recognition and confirmation and Nigerians are certainly elated by the confirmation.
