It has once again been proven that when Africans set their minds to do something, it takes almost the end of the world to stop them.

Hilda Baci, a Nigerian chef from Akwa Ibom State, took up a challenge recently to beat the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking time. The previous title holder, Lata London cooked for 87 hours, and 45 minutes.

The Nigerian-born chef decided to break the long-standing record and also set her record; she planned to cook for 96 hours. This feat titled “the Hilda Baci Cook-a-thon” started on Thursday, 11th of May, and ended on Monday, 15th of May.

According to the chef, she has always been infatuated with the world record since childhood. In a bid to fulfill her childhood dream, she has meticulously prepared herself; worked with a nutritionist to create a diet that will accommodate the challenge as she only gets 2 hours to herself in 24 hours. Prior to the cook-a-Thon, she carried out a 24-hours dry run. She admitted that even though she was the one cooking during the 24-hour dry-run, her team gave her all the help she needed, she also noted that she cooked for six hours and was taking 30 minutes break.

For this cook-a-thon, Hilda created a menu of up to a hundred local dishes to be cooked over the hours. The dishes she created, were shared freely with those that came to show their support. She had a very strong support system that kept encouraging her to go on even when she felt so tired; her mother and her right-hand person Chef Sunny were seen comforting her on so many occasions.

At 4:00 pm on Monday, Hilda Bacci set a record for the longest cooking time by 96 hours, but this beautiful woman did not stop there, she went on to cook for 100 hours and extra forty minutes. This has shown how ferocious Africans can be when they set their minds to getting things done.

This, however, was not the only thing that could be taken from this event. It also showed how Africans support their own as numerous people, including celebrities, turned up at the venue, staying with her from sundown to sun up, singing, and cheering her on. Those who were not within the city cheered her online, she became an internet sensation and the most talked about topic.

Congratulations to Chef Hilda Bacci, this will be a hard record to beat.