Guinness World Records (GWR) yesterday confirmed Nigerian celebrity chef Hilda Baci’s successful attempt at cooking the ‘Largest Serving of Nigerian-Style Jollof Rice’.
On Saturday Baci completed a nine-hour open-air cooking session at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, where she prepared 200 units of 20-kg bags of rice.
The record-breaking attempt, which took nine months of planning and two months of pot fabrication, was organised in collaboration with Gino Nigeria.
In a statement published on its website, GWR announced that Hilda, together with Gino Nigeria, cooked the largest serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice — an astonishing 8,780 kg (19,356 lb 9 oz) of the dish.
GWR noted that thousands of people attended the event, with live performers entertaining the crowd.
The organisation added that the record had strict rules requiring specific ingredients, and Hilda carefully measured and documented every item she added to the dish.
According to GWR, the ingredients cooked in the gigantic pot included 4,000 kg of washed basmati rice (which constitutes at least 80 per cent of the total weight), 164 kg of fresh goat meat, 220 kg of Gino Asun and peppered chicken cubes, and 600 kg of her signature jollof pepper mix.
“Largest serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice – 8,780 kg (19,356 lb 9 oz) achieved by Hilda Baci and Gino in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. She said it took ‘nine hours of fire, passion and teamwork’ and 1,200 kg of gas to create the 16,600 plates of rice ‘served with joy, love and community’.
“Hilda and Gino Nigeria also had to follow strict rules when it came to the distribution of the food, with none of it allowed to be wasted. A video posted to Hilda’s Instagram account shows the jollof rice being served up to all the hungry people who’d gathered in support and had to suffer through all those amazing smells before finally being able to dig in”, the statement added.
According to GWR, there is a record for the largest serving of Ghanaian-style jollof rice, but it currently has no holder.
Hilda is not new to the GWR record. In June 2023, this newspaper reported that GWR recognised Baci as the record holder for the longest individual cooking marathon.