Chef in Ghana aims to break world record with 120-hour cookathon
A chef in Ghana has been preparing regional dishes on live TV since New Year’s Day in an attempt to break a world record for marathon cooking.
Failatu Abdul-Razak had cooked for more than 110 hours as of Friday afternoon at a hotel in the northern city of Tamale where she is aiming to break the Guinness world record for a cookathon of 119 hours and 57 minutes held by the Irish chef Alan Fisher.
The world record attempt is being cheered on and widely celebrated in the west African country.
Abdul-Razak “has put Ghana on the map”, said Isaac Sackey, the president of the Chefs’ Association of Ghana. “So we need to try to honour her.”
West Africa has seen a frenzy of world record attempts in several categories since the Nigerian chef Hilda Baci claimed the world cooking record last May with a 100-hour performance before being dethroned by Fisher.
The Guinness World Records organisation has yet to make a statement about Abdul-Razak’s attempt, which could reach 120 hourson Saturday.
Celebrities, government leaders and hundreds of local people have visited the Modern City hotel in Tamale, where the chef’s record attempt is taking place. Visitors danced, sang and enjoyed the prepared food during the countdown to 120 hours.
The Ghanaian vice-president, Mahamudu Bawumia, posted about the attempt on Facebook earlier this week and donated 30,000 Ghanaian cedis (£1,981) to the chef.
“Go for gold,” he urged her.
Abdul-Razak said at the outset her attempt was a national assignment on behalf of Ghana and its citizens. Among the dishes she has prepared are banku – a traditional dish of fermented cornmeal balls in a soup – as well as the spicy jollof rice enjoyed across west Africa.
She said: “If I fail, believe me, I have put our president, Ghanaians, people who have supported (and) groomed me, my family and friends to shame.”
Under the guidelines, she is entitled to five-minute breaks every hour or an accumulated one hour after a stretch of 12 hours.
There have been concerns raised about the endeavour’s possible mental toll on the chef. Last month, the Ghanaian media personality Afua Asantewaa Owusu Aduonum was forced to end her attempt to break the world record for the longest time spent singing, after her medical team said her body showed signs of mental stress.
It’s the excitement that keeps record-seekers going during their attempts, said Annabella Osei-Tutu, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Ghana. “A lot of hype has got into it, so momentarily, they are running on adrenaline. After the episode, they will perhaps start feeling the toll on their body.”