Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Curtis Goodrum

WORLD RECORD

Sizzling past the 300-hour mark, Kamloops’ record-breaking Zainab Oladipo keeps on cooking

Aug 20, 2025 | 5:08 PM

KAMLOOPS – Zainab Oladipo, owner of Afrofusion, has broken her own goal of reaching 300 cooking hours but is continuing to shore up her 300 hours due to her taking breaks for sleep and prayer. She says she will now be cooking until the 340-hour mark.

“I feel it’s a lot of emotions. I’m tired. I’ve reached the finish line, once over. I feel like I’m now having to do more work to motivate myself to keep going,” said Oladipo.

Staff and volunteers make up the rest of the kitchen. They’re the ones who make sure Olapido has all the resources she needs.

“She told me, like, to come help her for the longest cooking marathon. Then I took it upon myself and I saw her do this and thought, ‘Oh my God, she’s wonderful,’” Fathia Akande, volunteer at Afrofusion.

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Lots of people joined not just to see a record broken but to be a part of something bigger.

“Her vision was inspiring and that’s the reason I joined. It was not just breaking the Guinness World Record. She was giving back to the community for two weeks. The donation that she’s collecting, she wants to give it back to the needy children. That was the thing that connected me more,” said Mukat Kaur, a volunteer since the world record attempt started.

Not only has the record been smashed, everyone who has taken part sees Olapido as inspirational.

“When I leave at night, like at midnight, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t want to do this anymore.’ And then I just remember that she hasn’t left the restaurant in… how many days now?” said Fatima Abesokan, prep leader at Afrofusion.

Oladipo only has one thing in mind when she gets past that 340-hour mark.

“I told them my son should be at the door by the 8:00 p.m. make and like, I’m going to fly to him. My legs are not touching the ground. I’m just going to fly to him.”

Her livestream can be found on the Ninth Lab YouTube channel.