GWR: Irish Chef, Alan Fisher, dethrones Hilda Baci for longest cooking marathon

An Irish chef Alan Fisher is now the record holder for the longest cooking hours after he clocked in a time of 119 hours and 57 minutes.

His feat is 24 hours more than that of the previous record held by Nigeria’s Hilda Baci. “Alan Fisher (Ireland), an owner and chef of a restaurant in Japan, has broken two cooking-related Guinness World Records titles,” the British organization said on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.

“First up, he’s claimed the longest cooking marathon (individual) after clocking in a time of 119 hours 57 minutes. That is more than 24 hours longer than the previous record held by Nigerian chef Hilda Baci.”

Apart from the longest cooking marathon, Alan also broke the longest baking marathon (individual). He had a time of 47 hours and 21 minutes while the previous record holder was Wendy Sandner (USA) with a time of 31 hours and 16 minutes, the Guinness World Records added.

“What’s even more impressive is that Alan took on both attempts back to back, meaning he was at work in the kitchen for over 160 hours with just over a day of rest in between!” the post further read.

Alan cooked and baked for nine days and made 357 kg worth of soda bread and 590 kg worth of dishes (3,360 portions consisting of 32 recipes) during those times. His feat came almost five months after the Guinness World Record confirmed Hilda’s adventurous cooking. The Nigerian broke the 87 hours and 45 minutes record held by India’s Lata Tondon since 2019.

Alan learned about the longest cooking marathon record in March while he was participating in the
“I Love Ireland” festival in Tokyo. During this festival, Alan stood inside a rented kitchen car and stayed overnight twice. During a break, he searched on the internet to find out that the record at the time was held by Lata Tondon (India) with a time of 87 hours 45 minutes. Then in May, Alan realized that Hilda Baci had extended the record to 93 hours and 11 minutes.

Meanwhile, Alan was still trying to recover from the difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When Omicron spread, a sudden dining out advisory from the local Government meant I lost all my
reservations for the month of July 2022 and needed to take out a pandemic support loan just to pay bills,” he said.

“I was broke and heartbroken. To have worked so hard for so long, to give up your own savings, your own salary and then still need a loan simply to stay in business with no guarantee things will recover. That was a tough pill to swallow.” Despite the recent easing of restrictions,Alan continued to carry this negative energy as he continued with his work. “Lata and Hilda’s achievements served as an inspiration,” he said.