The Nigerian chef Hilda Baci is now famous. A few days ago, she wasn’t any close to how popular she has become now. I didn’t know who she was until her video clips began trending on social media. She was holed up in a kitchen with glass windows, cutting, stirring, frying, sautéing, and so forth. Her energies had begun to flag. A big stopwatch ticked. An electronic timer gathered hours on a big screen. A boisterous crowd cheered her outside. What was her dream? To make the longest cooking time in the world. By the time I saw her video, she was inching closer to the Guinness World Record of an Indian chef, Lata Tondon, who cooked for 87 hours 45 minutes 00 seconds in Rewa, India in 2019.
Come 11 May, in the brash, crowded, and complicated Nigerian city of Lagos, a young chef embarked on an ambitious cook-a-thon aware of the high bar set by her Indian predecessor, but determined to surpass it. Not by a meager margin, but to achieve 96 hours of cooking time. Crowds, defying Nigeria’s blistering sun cheer her on: “Go, Hilda, go!” They cry, they sing, they dance. Celebrities show up in their numbers. Politicians, who normally deride or ignore the predilections of youths, offer Hilda their best wishes. Even the Governor of Lagos paid a visit to Hilda’s cook-a-thon venue to spur her on.
Of course, Hilda didn’t disappoint. She smashed Tondon’s record, stringing 100 hours of cooking time like a festoon for her name and her country. Nigeria went agog with festivity and just like that the 27-year-old chef became a celebrity. Her photographs circulate at breakneck speed on the internet. She becomes a poster child for success. An ambassador of culinary art. Many young Nigerians, Africans, and people across the world are magnetized by her accomplishment. But what does Hilda Baci’s record achievement mean for us?
What does Hilda Baci’s record mean for Nigerians?
A lamp of hope for Nigerians
As Hilda approached her cook-a-thon record, I spoke to a friend about her. His response was, “What value does a cook-a-thon add to our lives?” My instant reply was, “What does an Olympic marathon add to our lives?” To which, he smiled but said nothing. I was glad he saw the similarity. On the surface of things, the world may celebrate the athlete more than a chef, but on a deeper level, we can see the commonality of both endeavors.
It is that quest in humankind to strive to thrive – an existential quest, recognized by the ancient Greek Olympians, then rewarded with a crown of an olive branch but now with medals of gold, silver, and bronze. Sports is not just a sport. Of course, it is now gilded with celebrity, glitz and glamor, multi-million-dollar endorsement deals, and the like; but beyond all that is the eternal quest in all of us to succeed. Not every one of us will succeed. And life can be tragic. But for those of us who succeed, they lift a lamp of hope for others. That is what Hilda Baci’s record achievement has done for us.
Bigger things for her
Not only does Hilda Baci inspire hope in me, but I also have hope for her too. I hope she will succeed as a chef, and that her cook-a-thon success will not be a flash in the pan. I hope the big brands will surround her with incredible offers. I hope she will endure the strain of her newfound engagements and be able to cope with fame. I hope she remains the darling of millions who cheered and sang and rooted for her to succeed. I hope she remembers that she won this feat, not only because she prepared for the cook-a-thon through intense workouts and long cooking stretches, but also because people, charmed by her example, loved and cheered her to victory.
As she inspires millions of Nigerians and Africans who are now singing the name Hilda Baci like a synonym for their dreams, I hope she will press on for bigger things. I hope she can tell young people of the world, especially the young, that they can have dreams and work them out into reality; and that in spite of where they come from, their dreams are valid and possible.
Exposure to Nigerian dishes
What did Hilda Baci cook in the course of her cook-a-thon? She mapped much of the Nigerian and West African culinary landscape over the hours. She cooked party jollof – a popular West African favorite, coconut rice, fried rice, jollof pasta, porridge plantain, porridge yam, and so forth. Her soups included edika ikong, afang, egusi, nsala, fisherman soup, ofe akwu, and okra. These were interspersed with goat meat stew, peppered chicken, peppered turkey, fried fish, and ofada sauce. And she cooked even more.
These are mouthwatering dishes that enliven Nigerian taste buds. Nigerians must therefore be proud of Hilda Baci, and her record feat, for embodying the aspirations of not only herself but also the hopes and dreams of her generation, especially at a time when it might be too hard to dream big things. Through Hilda’s success, millions across the world can feel successful.
Featured image: @hildabaci/Instagram
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