Meet Kenyan Chef Aiming To Break Hilda Baci's World Record

Mohammed began her mission in 2018 when she was just a cook who also worked as a caterer.

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Jun 16, 2023 - 18:22 Updated: Jun 16, 2023 - 18:40
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Meet Kenyan Chef Aiming To Break Hilda Baci's World Record
Side by side image of Kenyan chef Maliha Mohammed and her Nigerian counterpart, Hilda Baci. /VIRALTEAKE

26-year-old Nigerian chef, restaurateur and actress Hilda Effiong Bassey, alias Hilda Baci became a worldwide sensation after having broken a four-year-old Guinness World Record (GWR) for marathon cooking (Cook-athon) with 93 hours 11 minutes. However, her counterpart in Kenya is threatening to surpass it.

GWR on Tuesday, June 13 certified Baci's world record after analysing footage and evidence submitted from her cooking marathon before deciding to award her.

“The current record stands at 87 hours and 45 minutes and was set by Lata Tondon in India in 2019. This is a challenging record with strict rules that must be followed throughout.

"These include: two items must be prepared or cooked at any one time and the number, name and weight of each item cooked must be submitted with the evidence. Hilda met all these rules, but anyone attempting a marathon record is given a 5-minute break for each hour completed,” stated a GWR official.

Hilda Baci during a past cooking session. /BBC

The GWR analysed the evidence provided by Chef Hilda’s team and found that there had been a miscalculation when it came to Hilda’s rest breaks. As a result, Headquarters was unable to award her the 100 hours of cooking she was aiming for and instead recognised her for cooking for 93 hours and 11 minutes, still the world’s longest cooking marathon.

Now, 40-year-old Mombasa-based Kenyan chef Maliha Mohammed, who made history in 2019 by cooking for over 75 hours straight, is aiming to snatch the prized crown from Baci and do what no human being has done before; cook for 100 hours.

Mohammed began her mission in 2018 when she was just a cook who also worked as a caterer.

"I learn part of my cooking from YouTube, I take it as my school, and on that particular day, during my lunch break at work, I saw a certain chef from California in the United States cooking for 65 hours. It inspired me. I had never seen such a challenge in Kenya and so I went for it.

"We have marathon runners who break records, but there are not many Kenyans in the Guinness World Records and I wanted to change that because we can do it too," Mohammed told the Nation on Friday, June 16.

The mother-of-two revealed that she immediately created a website, updated her social media accounts and signed up for a 75-hour cooking marathon challenge in 2019, where she cooked 400 recipes.

How Maliha Mohammed Began Cooking Journey

Mohammed, who attended Alibhai Panju Jaffery Primary School from 1990 to 1994 before moving to Nairobi to complete her primary education, admitted she never pursued a career as a cook.

"When people ask me why I am doing this, I say for me and my two daughters and everyone who has had a setback in life, this is our comeback year.

"For all the tears, humiliations, struggles, sleepless nights, prayers and small victories, I am destined for greatness and I will fight for my dreams because they have no expiration date," she added.

Mohammed began her cooking marathon on June 16, inviting her fans to follow the proceedings live on TikTok. She aims to cook non-stop for 55 hours and make 100 recipes which include Swahili cuisines such as biriyani wa kuku, biriyani wa nyama, bhajia and chicken masala among others.

"This time I will also be trying international cuisines such as the Nigerian staple jollof rice. The food will then be donated to various local orphanages, rehabilitation centres and street families under Empowering Africa Woman, an organisation that is spearheading the donations," she added.

"We just started 2hrs 30min ago trial training cooking. Follow the whole journey on my TikTok account chefmalihamohammed," her Instagram post shared at 1 pm read.

Chef Maliha Mohammed preparing food on August 15, 2019. /TWITTER.LEO TUNAPIKA

In May, Mohammed cooked for 45 hours in what she described as her first training session, working on 54 recipes. Her June 16 feat is seen as a preparation for the main challenge in August and November this year.

Mohammed started cooking at the Kenya Bay Beach Resort in Mombasa on Friday, August 15, 2019, at 10 am, finally finishing her 75-hour 'cook-a-thon' three days later at 1 pm.

Throughout the three days, she cooked 400 dishes including traditional Swahili foods like coconut beans, fried fish, mandazis, mukimo (mashed potatoes and green vegetables) and githeri (corn and beans) - as well as international cuisines like Indian biryani and chapati, Portuguese chicken peri peri and more than 10 different types of pizza.

How Chef Maliha Will Break Hilda Baci's Record

At first, the chef - a mother of two - conducted her first trial at the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) by cooking 100 recipes for 36 hours non-stop. In July 2019, she began the second trial of 200 recipes for 54 hours before going for the final marathon on August 12, which was supervised by officials from the Guinness World Records.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, May 17, Chef Mohammed revealed that she had submitted an application in December 2022 to attempt to break the record in 2023.

In an email notification, she was informed that the challenge would take place in August. The determined chef is attempting to break two records: the Longest Cooking by an Individual Marathon and the Home Kitchen Cooking Marathon, both scheduled for August 11 and November 11.

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