Lagos, Sept. 12 — Nigerian celebrity chef and Guinness World Record holder, Hilda Baci, has explained why she reduced her target from 250 bags of rice to 200 in her attempt to set a new record for the largest serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice.
Baci, who rose to global fame in 2023 after her record-breaking cook-a-thon, began the challenge on Friday at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, drawing huge crowds of food lovers, celebrities, and dignitaries. Nollywood actress Funke Akindele, dancer Kaffy, and Ogun State First Lady Bamidele Abiodun were among those present.
Speaking to journalists, Baci said the adjustment was due to technical limitations of the weighing equipment. “The measuring crane and device can only weigh up to 20,000 kilogrammes, including the pot. So it was safer for me to go below that,” she explained.
She added that the 200 bags still amounted to 4,000 kilogrammes of rice, enough to feed 20,000 people. “We’re still up there,” she said.
Baci described the feat as the most ambitious of her career, noting it took almost a year of planning. “It took two months to fabricate the pot and nine months to plan the event. Making the meal itself took almost nine hours,” she revealed.
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Though the challenge has attracted Guinness World Records’ attention—who wished her luck via its official X handle—Baci said the project was not initially about record-breaking. “When I came up with this idea, I didn’t think about it as a world record. It was about bringing people together and feeding the nation,” she said.
The event, dubbed the Gino Jollof Festival, has turned into a carnival with music, dancing, and mass food sharing. For Baci, the effort is about more than records: “We’re not done until everybody here has eaten to their satisfaction.”
