Liberian-Australian chef Evette Quoibia broke the world record for longest cooking marathon (individual)
She cooked for 140 hours, 11 minutes and 11 seconds, beating the previous record of 119 hours, 57 minutes and 16 seconds
Quoibia raised money for groceries and gathered a team of kitchen assistants and an event planner to pull off the challenge
A chef took the crown for the longest cooking marathon after more than 5 days in the kitchen.
Chef Evette Quoibia spent 140 hours, 11 minutes and 11 seconds cooking Liberian food for a revolving door of people in Melbourne to win the Guinness World Record for longest cooking marathon (individual).
The Liberian-Australian restaurant owner described being intrigued by the culinary challenge due to her personal and professional experiences. “I was born during the war, and we moved a lot. My parents fled to the Ivory Coast, then Ghana, then I came to Australia,” she told Guinness World Records. “I always dreamed of being great, or doing something out of the ordinary. I’m very ambitious, I dream big. But due to the life I had, I feel like I didn’t have the opportunity to do things that [would] permit me to be the person I wanted to be. Until I found out about the Guinness World Records’ longest cooking marathon.”
Quoibia added that the challenge was “a good opportunity to achieve something big.”
She applied to the applicant-only record, which needs to be reviewed and approved by the organization’s team before someone attempts the challenge because of the possible risks of endurance titles.
After two months of preparation, including starting a GoFundMe for kitchen supplies and gathering a team of event planners, churchgoers and kitchen volunteers, Quoibia was ready for the challenge. She planned to make Liberian food like jollof rice, cassava leaves, okra and cabbage stew and other West African dishes for the February 2024 attempt.
She set off to beat the previous record of 119 hours, 57 minutes and 16 seconds and cited the support of her community and her son as huge motivations as she felt the physical and mental toll of cooking for days.
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Participants are allowed a 20-minute break every 4 hours but napping wasn’t particularly helpful, she explained. Her resting spot was 5 minutes away from her cooking area and a 10-minute nap was “damaging.”
“Everytime I took a power nap I found it more difficult to get into routine, so I really struggled to stay awake during those times. There were times where I almost overslept – luckily, the team, which I was really grateful for, assisted in keeping me awake.”
After 5 days on her feet, she didn’t even realize what time it was until someone else announced that she had broken the record. They danced and served the remaining food to celebrate before Quoibia took a “3-day” nap.
“People don’t always know what they’re capable of doing, or how far they can go, until they try. And record-breaking gives people the opportunity to test themselves to the highest limit,” she said of the success. “I wanted to encourage women, single moms, young women, and everyone else, that whatever you’re doing right now, if you have a dream to do it big, there’s hope for you. There’s a chance for everyone.”
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