Chef Hilda Bassey cooks for 100 hours straight in world record attempt: NPR

Nigerian chef Hilda Bassey has cooked continuously for 100 hours to set a new world record.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOSTS:

Last week a crowd gathered in Lagos, Nigeria to celebrate the attempt at a new world record.

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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (vocals) Hilda Baci.

SUMMER: Chef Hilda Baci cooked for four days.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (No English language spoken).

SUMMER: She finished her cooking night with 100 hours of non-stop cooking. The previous record was 87 hours.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Baci learned to cook from her mother, who worked as a caterer. But as a child, she didn’t dream of becoming a chef. Actually, she wanted to study medicine.

HILDA BACI: But then I realized that cooking comes very naturally to me. And I remember even doing it at university where I would cook for events at my school.

SHAPIRO: So she became a cook. She owns a restaurant, makes cooking videos and teaches classes. And she thought one way to make a name for herself was to set the Guinness World Record in marathon cooking.

BACI: In the beginning I went through a big wave of fears and anxiety.

SOMMER: Baci says the support of her brother and her fans has helped her endure the physical and mental exhaustion.

BACI: So there’s something my brother said to me that was so profound. And he said to me: You know what? You haven’t fallen yet. You’re still standing, and you can still put things in the pot. So just keep going until you can’t anymore.

SOMMER: She wanted to highlight African food in her world record attempt, so the menu featured more than 55 recipes, many of them Nigerian.

BACI: I made coconut rice. I made afang soup, egusi soup. I did ukwa. I made nkwobi.

SHAPIRO: Despite her exhaustion, Baci says the cooking night was like a four-day party…

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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (singing in non-English language).

SHAPIRO: …complete with a large audience and lots of Nigerian music. Baci says an artist who is not Nigerian was particularly inspirational.

BACI: I listen to Taylor Swift a lot. In fact, during the Cook-a-thon concerts, we had an entire Taylor Swift concert because, as you know, I kept listening to “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.”

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SONG, “YOU BELONG WITH ME”)

TAYLOR SWIFT: (sings) If you could see I’m the one…

SOMMER: Baci tells us she just submitted all her evidence to the Guinness World Records team. And she hopes to hear something soon.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SONG, “YOU BELONG WITH ME”)

SWIFT: (singing) Why can’t you see? You belong With Me. You belong With Me. As I walk the streets with you and your threadbare jeans, I can’t help but think that’s how it’s supposed to be — I laugh on a park bench and I’m like, “Hey; isn’t that easy? And you have a smile that could shine…

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