Institute congratulates Hilda Bassey, expects her at gastronomy festival

The National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) has congratulated Nigerian Chef Hilda Bassey, the Guinness World Record holder for the longest cooking marathon.

Alhaji Nura Kangiwa, Director-General, NIHOTOUR, said in a statement in Lagos on Thursday that Bassey’s feat was one that the institute was delighted in and would always want to be identified with.

Supreme reports that Chef Hilda Effiong Bassey, known on social media as Hilda Baci, was confirmed as the new world record holder for the longest cooking marathon by the Guinness World Records (GWR) committee on Tuesday.

She became the holder of the title by cooking for 93 hours and 11 minutes to beat the previous title holder, Indian Chef Lata Tondon, who cooked for 87 hours and 45 minutes in 2019.

Kangiwa said that Bassey would be participating in the institute’s Gastronomy Festival, slated to hold June 17 at Abuja International Conference Centre.

He noted that this year’s festival would be the 3rd edition of the food and beverage exhibition and sampling event, initiated by NIHOTOUR since 2021.

“NIHOTOUR, as Nigeria’s leading hospitality and tourism occupational skills development institute, is required to mitigate the skills-gap challenges of personnel in the industry.

“We are also to drum up support for practitioners that are, despite the odds, achieving measurable success in the tradecraft.

“Hilda Bassey is one of the rare cases of gastronomic success Nigeria has attained, and we congratulate her for this.

“Besides the new world record of cooking achieved by Hilda, as adjudged by the committee of the Guinness World Records, for us, in NIHOTOUR, we recognize that her success has become a beacon.

“She is now a beacon that is encouraging more Nigerian youths to take up careers in the hospitality and catering sub-sectors.

“As an occupational skills development institute, our primary mandate is to enable people to acquire the requisite skills to become self-employed by adding value to the hospitality and tourism industries.

“And Hilda Bassey exemplifies that! So, like most Nigerians, Nihotour is impressed with her commitment to excel,” he said.

Kangiwa said that the festival would be a public food and beverage exhibition with free tastings of hundreds of culinary masterpieces from Nigeria’s 300 ethnic groups.

He said cuisines from international communities like China, Spain, Senegal, Trinidad & Tobago, and Cote d’Ivoire would be on display.

According to the NIHOTOUR boss, the program is designed to upskill Nigerian gastronomes and culinary artists on the technicalities and emerging global best practices of handling food.

He said that the handling of food would involve processing, preparing, presenting, packaging, and promoting foods, especially Nigerian traditional cuisines.

“The theme for the 2023 Niho Tour Gastronomy Festival is “Culinary Arts: The Gateway to Growing Tourism Destinations”.

“The Embassy of Spain to Nigeria has brought in Chef Alex Marugan, a celebrated Spanish chef, to train and share best practices and emerging global trends in culinary arts with some select culinary schools in Nigeria.

“The training will hold on 15 June to 16 June in Abuja. He will also prepare and display the best of Spanish cuisine at the festival,” he said.