• Maliha started the cooking marathon on Thursday, August 15 at 10am and finished on Sunday August 18 at 1.03pm.
• She was only resting for 30 minutes after every 12 hours of non-stop cooking.
Image: CHARLES MGHENYI
A Kenyan chef, Maliha Mohammed, on Sunday broke the world record for the longest cooking marathon (individual).
Maliha, 36, spent 75 hours, 3 minutes cooking at the Kenya Bay Beach Hotel in Mombasa.
If the attempt is ratified, the mother of three will be named the first African to break the Guinness World Record in the category.
The record is currently held by Rickey Lumpkin II from Los Angeles, California in the United States who spent 68 hours, 30 minutes and 01 seconds cooking on April 7 last year.
Maliha started the cooking marathon on Thursday, August 15 at 10am and finished on Sunday, August 18 at 1.03pm and was watched by adjudicators from the records agency.
“The journey has quite been tiresome. My legs are painful for standing for very long hours,” Maliha said.
Maliha said she was only resting for 30 minutes after every 12 hours of non-stop cooking.
The self-taught chef had a list of 400 recipes which included local, Italian, Indian and other international cuisines which she prepared over the three days.
Her quest to break the world record began last year when she applied to compete but was forced to pull out at the last minute due to inadequate finances.
The chef said she was only able to raise Sh15,000 from friends and well-wishers, which was not enough to take her through the competition last year.
Maliha wrote another application in December to the Guinness Book of World Records and they responded in April that her 75-hour bid had gone through.
She got support from Pwani Oil Products Limited, who supplied cooking oil and other condiments, while Sea Gas Limited provided her with cooking gas.
“Last year, after I pulled out of the race, I did not give up. With the small amount of money I had raised, I decided to turn my sitting room into a kitchen and with my 20 friends, we cooked for a straight 72 hours,” she says.
Maliha says the challenge was just to check if she could go for those 72 hours.
“We shot some small videos and uploaded them on my YouTube channel. This inspired me to take up the challenge this year, and I decided to now go for 75 hours,” she said.
While rehearsing in June and July for the Guinness World Record marathon this month, Maliha cooked 36 and 54 hours non-stop respectively, preparing 100 recipes in the process.
By setting the new world record, Maliha will now join a galaxy of outstanding Kenyan achievers who have featured in the Guinness Book of Records including athletes Tegla Lorupe, Paul Tergat, Daniel Komen and Samuel Wanjiru.
Another Kenyan who has featured on the world list is Joseph Love who in 1992 milked 30 cows by hand in 24 hours.
Pwani Oil Products Limited Commercial Director Rajul Malde said Maliha has been able to market Kenya.
“We believe that the recipes Maliha has cooked will now be advertised worldwide. She will be called to many meetings abroad to showcase her talent," Malde said.
He said this will also be a tourist attraction. "Tourists coming to Kenya will want to eat from Maliha's recipes," he said.
(edited by O. Owino)