International executive chef Chef Smith claims he has been misjudged, despite criticism that he undermined fellow Ghanaian Chef Faila’s quest to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon.
In July of last year, Chef Smith applied to the Guinness World Record to get permission to organize his cook-a-thon; but, at that time, his application was rejected. When it was ultimately authorized in September, he reapplied.
During his cook-a-thon at the Amadia Shopping Centre, Spintex, in Accra on Tuesday, February 6, Chef Smith spoke with Graphic Showbiz and voiced his disappointment at people making snap judgments about him without knowing all the details.
“It’s very unfortunate how people like to jump to conclusions and in my case, for instance, I’m not enjoying the public support because Ghanaians think that my cook-a-thon attempt is just to undermine Faila’s record.
“That is far from it, what I’m doing is not to rival Faila or anyone at all. It is an ambition that I started pursuing last year after getting the inspiration from Nigeria’s Hilda Baci who did hers in May. I applied in July but was turned down.
“God being so good, I was given the green light in September last year and it’s just a coincidence that the time I’m ready is coming right after that of another Ghanaian.
“This is not a national but a global competition. The date is arranged by the officials but there is a clash only when the person extends the date during the attempt so it is not my fault that things happened the way they did so I want to use this platform to appeal to Ghanaians to support me on this worthy cause,” he said.
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Chef Smith, a graduate of National University’s College of Tourism and Hospitality Management in the Philippines, is attempting to set a record for the longest cooking marathon by one person with a 360-hour challenge.
Chef Smith started his job on Thursday, February 1, and as of Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m., he had completed 150 hours. His goal is to be done by March 6.
With a length of 119 hours and 57 minutes, Irish chef Alan Fisher, who owns a restaurant in Japan, currently holds the official Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual. He succeeded Hilda Baci of Nigeria, who had held the record for ninety-three hours.
It’s interesting to note that a number of people have attempted to win the title after Alan Fisher.
The first was the Dorcus Mirembe of Uganda, also referred to as Mama D, who completed 123 hours and 20 minutes in December 2023. She has not yet received an official verification from Guinness World Records. The same goes for Beauty Obasuyi, a Nigerian-Canadian who completed 447 hours, and Chef Faila of Ghana, who also recorded 227 hours.
Chef Smith expressed his desire to establish a record that would be challenging to surpass to Graphic Showbiz.
“I originally planned to do 15 days but I have realised that people are coming up to break the record so I extended it to a month to make it difficult for anyone to break it.
“The support has been low but I get encouraged by the few individuals who pass by. I know people are back to work so they don’t have much time but their short presence is much needed to motivate me,” he stated.
