An Irish chef has claimed a new world record for non stop cooking and baking after spending almost all of last week slaving over a hot stove.

Alan Fisher,from Dundalk completed the marathon task in his own restaurant in Japan and spent 119hours and 57 minutes cooking a variety of Irish themed foods and moved on to bake soda bread for another 47 hours straight.

He revealed, “I listed 4 Soda Bread types for the Baking Marathon and 42 different Irish Food Recipes for the Cooking Marathon.


“Once approved I would be confined to these items only during each attempt.”

Completing the task proved to be every bit as difficult as envisaged, the first signs of strain setting in after just 12 hours.

“The first big hurdle came roughly 11 or 12 hours into the Baking Marathon. I’d been standing constantly mixing dough by hand which also distorted my posture.

“My back was getting tight and sore. So much so, that I did start to wonder if this was physically possible. Looking back, this was the most physically challenging part of either marathon.

“The Guinness Book of records had a supervisor watching me and for the cooking marathon I had to ask him was it okay to sit down when I was peeling potatoes,thanks be to God he said it was.

‘It was just as well he cleared it as I had to peel over 300kg of spuds.

‘I found a way to have a rest during the baking, every time I finished a soda bread, for which I kneaded the dough by hand, I told him I had to wash my hands before I carried on and sat down for a minute while I washed them.

‘Towards the end of that bit I was almost falling asleep the rhythm of peeling was hypnotizing me so I got a bucket of ice water and started dipping my head in to stay awake.

‘I was allowed a five minute break every hour Next to the kitchen there is a small stock room and there we set up a camping bed with some cushions and toiletries The room is very small but on the wall directly by the bed I made a list of messages to myself to read on each break. Little things to keep me focused and motivated.

‘It got to the point were I definitely couldn’t give up. In my mind I was representing myself, my family and Irish food.

‘As time went by it became clear that many local people had turned up to support me, it was as if I had been adopted into this community over 9000km from my home. How could I not persevere that was the only option.

‘I’ll tell you one thing, if someone ever beats my record I won’t be trying to reclaim it.

‘Peeling 300kg of potatoes is a once in a lifetime thing and once is enough for me to do it.’