By Oluwatosin Maliki
Irish Chef, Alan Fisher, who owns and works as a chef at a restaurant in Japan, has broken the record for the longest cooking marathon, which was held by Nigeria’s Hilda Baci.
Quest Times gathered that Chef (Alan), didn’t just win one title, but won two cooking-related Guinness World Records titles.
It was learnt that the Irish chef claimed the longest cooking marathon (individual) after clocking in a time of 119 hours 57 minutes. Noting that the time is more than 24 hours longer than the previous record set by Nigerian chef Hilda Baci.
Similarly, Alan went on to claim the longest baking marathon (individual), with a time record of 47 hours 21 minutes. Also, noting that the previous record holder was Wendy Sandner (USA), with a time of 31 hours 16 minutes.
The marathon chef who has bagged two titles, took on both challenge back to back, during this time, he had worked in the kitchen for over 160 hours with just over a day of rest in between.
The recent title holder explained his journey, he stated that he had learned about the longest cooking marathon record in March while, also participating in the “I Love Ireland” festival in Tokyo. During this festival, he noted that he stood inside a rented kitchen car and stayed overnight twice.
He decided to search the internet, Alan discovered that the record 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.
He said the record attempt proved challenging, even during the preparation phase.
Although, towards the end of the longest cooking marathon (individual) record attempt, Alan said he had endured fatigue and sleepiness.
He stated, “I peeled roughly 300 kg of potatoes during the cooking marathon. For the first few days, I would look forward to this each evening as it gave me a chance to sit down.”
“Towards the end of the cooking marathon, however, as fatigue started to take hold, I would find it more and more difficult to stay awake whenever I sat down to start peeling.
In addition, “The rhythm of the peeling would almost hypnotize me. I had one hallucination on the second-to-last day. I turned to ask someone to pass me something, like I would on any normal day, only to realize there was no one there.”
Despite all the challenges faced by Alan, he says it was the people of the town who cheered and supported his record attempt, which gave him the push to carry on.
The Irish Chef had baked and cooked, for a total of nine days, Alan had made 357 kg worth of soda bread and 590 kg worth of dishes (3,360 portions consisting of 32 recipes).
His efforts were eventually rewarded, when he received his two world record certificates.
