Guinness World Records, founded in 1955, is a British reference book that publishes world records of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. It is published in about 100 countries and in 40 languages, and maintains over 53,000 records in its database, with its international franchise now including television series and museums.
Hilda Effiong Bassey, popularly known as Hilda Baci — born the yearGuinness World Records celebrated its 40th anniversary — went on, at the age of 28, in 2023, to have her name and feat imprinted in this famous world record for setting the record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual after cooking for 93 hours and 11 minutes in Lagos.
In this same bustling city of Lagos, this tireless and unrelenting chef attempted to serialise her legacy in the Guinness World Records by venturing into a feat far bigger than herself, but not without knowing herself and what she stands for, and doing it in a creative and fun way. After all, that is the essence of the world record.
The Guinness World Records tells us about its purpose, vision, mission, and values that define the world. Its purpose, it tells us, is to make the world a more interesting, fun, and positive place through the joy that comes from discovery. Its vision is to inspire a sense of wonder by sharing our unique take on the world. Its mission, it tells us, is to document the incredible by crowning new generations of record holders and sharing their authentic stories. Importantly and interestingly, it reminds us that it places value on integrity, respect, passion, inclusiveness, and fun.
Last Friday, September 12th, at the Eko Hotel in Victoria Island, Hilda Baci tickled the noses and taste buds of thousands of people in Lagos with another mind-blowing culinary challenge by cooking the world’s largest pot of jollof rice with the aim of bagging another recognition from the Guinness World Records.
Jollof rice? It sounds fun, if not stupid, for anyone to make any history, not to mention immortalising their names in a world record by cooking or associating themselves with a mere jollof rice. Jollof rice, as we know it, is a common food of no consequence, something we eat in our homes, restaurants, and parties without giving any thought to it, something most of us are tired of seeing and eating.
As an enthusiast of New Thought teachings and a student of mind science, I looked beyond the crowd at Eko Hotel, and the fuss, smell, and taste of the jollof rice in the gigantic pot, and focused my mind on what was going on in Hilda’s mind when she conceived this idea that brought thousands people and tens of corporate organisations together in one big space. I thought, wondered, and pondered how this chef was able to convince her partners and supporters that an ordinary jollof rice could create a buzz that would linger for ages. I tried understanding how she was able to make the organisers of the Guinness World Records understand what she intended to achieve with an ordinary jollof rice.
In my quest to unravel this seeming mystery, I recalled reading New Thought advocate Wallace D. Wattle’s “The Science of Being Great’ published about 110 years ago. In this seminal book, Wattle tries to explain what drives people like Hilda to do what they do, what goes on in their minds and thoughts, why they are different from the hordes, and why they are great.
Wattles warns us of undertaking great things in a small way. He tells us that doing things in a great way gives us all the power there is, for great people are always greater than their deeds. He buttresses this by adding, “Nothing that is possible in spirit is impossible in flesh and blood. Nothing that man can think is impossible in action. Nothing that man can imagine is impossible of realisation.”
Wattle gives me some clarity into Hilda’s mind, but I further sought clarity from Norman Vincent Peale’s ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’. In chapter seven of this book, titled ‘Expect the Best and Get It’, Peale tells us that life cannot deny itself to the person who gives life his all, and that results do not yield themselves to the person who refuses to give himself to the desired results.
I needed more clarification, more answers to why Hilda thinks the way she does and keeps setting and breaking records. Then Peale provides the answer in simple sentences. He tells us to, “Fire the heart with where you want to go and where you want to be. Get it so deeply fixed in your unconscious that you will not take no for an answer, then your entire personality will follow where your heart leads.”
So, on that fateful Friday in Lagos when Hilda took up the daring challenge of cooking over 200 bags of rice in a specially built pot, reportedly built over three months, measuring about six metres in width with a capacity of 22,619 litres, and originally designed to hold 5,000 kilogrammes of rice, I was not afraid or skeptical about the outcome of the challenge, because I knew she understands the principles of in ‘The Science of Being Great’ and what ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ could do for someone who fixes their heart totally to a cause.
For me, Hilda’s jollof rice feat is not about the size of the pot or the ingredients used in cooking it. It is neither about the smell nor the taste of the rice. Instead, for me, it is about the art and science of the cooking process, the fears and the challenges that were surmounted. It is about the businesses, brands, and organisations that united under one cause, behind a chef they believed in, to make history happen. It is about the community that was formed, the laughter and the dance before and after the cooking, the networking and the connections that were made, the businesses and brands that were formed. The social and economic impact. For me, it is about the fact that if anyone believes in themselves, the way Hilda believed in herself, they can do exploits, they can move the world.
The world and the organisers of Guinness World Records have watched Hilda cook us a jollof rice that goes beyond the basic definition of jollof rice, a jollof rice that, even before it was cooked, got the attention of the world. A jollof rice we would keep savouring as long as time keeps ticking and as long as the world records are concerned.
So, as long as Hilda’s jollof rice feat goes, what makes a Guinness World Records title? The Guinness organisation provides an overview of any record assessment. According to the organisation, each record must be measurable, breakable, standardisable, verifiable, based on one variable, and the best in the world.
Judging from Hilda’s jollof rice spectacle, one would not be wrong to believe that she met all the listed criteria and has just fed Guinness World Records with the biggest and sweetest jollof rice it would keep salivating on for a long time, just like the other delicacy she served the world in Lagos that immortalised her, for the first time, in Guinness World Records in 2023.
Finally. For me, Chef Hilda Baci has, through her jollof rice feat, created a global community of jollof rice lovers, redefined what is possible in the food and culinary industry, and let the world know that anything is possible and breakable in a fun and creative way without breaking anything. After all, that is the purpose the Guinness World Records serves: To make the world a more interesting, fun, and positive place through the joy that comes from discovery.
