Nigeria: Hilda Baci’s record for largest pot of jollof rice confirmed by Guinness World Records

It’s official: a new culinary feat was achieved last week in Lagos. Nigerian celebrity chef Hilda Baci has broken the world record for cooking the largest ever pot of jollof rice, the Guiness World Records confirmed on Monday. 

Baci and her team prepared a pot of 8,780 kilograms of jollof rice last Friday, surpassing the required 4,700 kilograms, the organisation said on X. 

This popular West African dish is made from rice cooked in a pepper sauce.

The giant preparation took “nine hours of fire, passion, and teamwork,” the chef said after the day-long cooking and serving, which involved a moment of high drama when the huge retrofitted pot collapsed under a crane during weighing.

The mountain of rice was distributed to hundreds of onlookers who had come to cheer the chef in the upscale neighbourhood of Victoria Island. 

With over 3 million followers on Instagram, Hilda Baci is a cooking star. 

The 29-year-old chef is known for having briefly held the world record for the longest cooking marathon, with her 2023 challenge spanning 93 hours and 11 minutes of non-stop cooking. Irish chef Alan Fisher surpassed her record a year later.

But it sparked off numerous of attempts at Guinness World Records recognition as many young West Africans tapped into the desire for global acclaim, including challenges for the longest book reading, the longest skipping rope session and the longest speech, among others.