Master chef Hilda Baci on the cusp of second GWR she did not originally plan for
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Hilda Baci, 28, sociology graduate now turned celebrity master chef, is on the cusp of a new Guinness World Records (GWR) title having cooked and served over 20,000 people in Lagos on Friday with 200 bags of jollof rice (scaled down from 250 bags for technical reasons).
She said she originally planned only a food festival to feed Nigerians, but the idea of another GWR inevitably slipped in.
And the GWR folks in London sent her words of encouragement at the start of the challenge by reposting a video on X with the inscription, “What’s cookin’? “Best of luck to @hildabacicooks who’s attempting a new record for the largest serving of Nigerian style jollof rice today.”
Again, inevitably, she set a new GWR for cooking the world’s largest pot of Nigerian jollof rice at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island in Lagos, an electrifying event that pulled a massive crowd of over 20,000 food lovers, celebrities, and influencers.
It was in the same Lagos that Hilda won her first GWR in 2023 through her groundbreaking culinary feat of a cook-a-thon lasting 93 hours 11 minutes.
Before firing up the cooking gas in the new attempt, Hilda rolled up her sleeves to personally wash the massive red pot. “Yes, I can officially confirm this pot is squeaky clean! I washed it myself,” she updated her fans.
She told journalists: “To keep the authenticity of the jollof rice, I applied some mathematics, and we will still watch it while it is cooking to make sure that everything is right.”
Before the real cooking began, Hilda had a short prayer session with Havesters Church Lead Pastor, Bolaji Idowu.
Event turns into carnival with music and dancing graced by celebrities
As the jollof simmered, the crowd swelled, with guests beaming with excitement to get a taste of the steaming dish.
Notable personalities such as Veekee James, Tomike Adeoye, and Enioluwa joined the celebration, cheering her on. GWR showed support, writing on her Instagram post, “Best of luck, Hilda and team! ”
The event took on a carnival atmosphere, with music, dancing, and appearances from well-known personalities and Nollywood types, including Funke Akindele, who mounted the stage to applaud Hilda’s resilience before joining her at the cooking spot to stir the tomato base for the rice.
Akindele energised the crowd with exciting dance steps.
Bamidele, wife of Ogun Governor Dapo Abiodun, was also present, among celebrities like dancer Kaffy, Tomike Adeoye, Enioluwa, Peller, Veekee James, Femi Atere, Samuel Banks, Alex Unusual, Folagbade Banks; and Oludipe David, aka Spryo, treated the audience to some of his hit songs.
Hilda disclosed that the specially-designed pot used for the challenge has capacity for 22,619 litres, and her goal was to fill it up to 80 per cent with about 5,278 kilograms of raw basmati rice of 264 bags (rounded up to 250 bags) – later scaled down to 200 bags.
She said she had to reduce to number of bags of rice from 250 to 200 because the measuring crane and scale designed to weigh the final dish had a limit of 20,000 kilograms, including the weight of the custom-made pot.
“If you notice when we started we weighed the pot and we need to weigh every single thing that goes into the pot when we’re done,” Hilda explained.
“The goal was that by the time I was done making 5,000 kilograms I was hoping to achieve about 17,000 to 18,000 kilograms. Right now, if I include the weight of the pot, that’s about 20,000.
“The average crane and the measuring device can only weigh 20,000 kilograms.
“It’s safer for me to go below 20,000 kilograms so that my scale can carry it all at the same time and basically that is why I had to cut down on the quantity and I only cut it down by a thousand kilograms.
“This 4,000 kilograms of rice is 200 bags of rice and it will still feed 20,000 people so we’re still up there.”
Hilda described the feat as the most ambitious of her career, noting that it took almost a year of planning to pull it off.
“Honestly, Gino and I figuring this whole thing out was hectic. Figuring out how to fabricate the pots, it took Mr. Ayo two months to figure out and fabricate the pots.
“Then it took us about nine months to plan this event and it took us almost nine hours to make the entire meal.
“It was challenging but very exciting at the same time.
“We need to distribute the food and make sure that everybody that has come here eats to their satisfaction.
“So we’re still on it but so far I’m very happy, you know, with where we are and what we’ve been able to achieve today.”
“When I came up with this idea, I did not think about it as a world record, quite frankly.
“I mean, have you looked around? There’s a lot of you. Some of you came with your cooler, so we need to make sure everybody’s fed.
“We’re feeding the nation.”
Custom-made pot, mammoth ingredients
BBC Pidgin reports that Hilda’s gigantic jollof rice recipe included 4,000 kilograms of rice, 500 cartons of tomato paste and 600 kilograms of onions – all poured into a custom-made pot of almost 23,000 litres.
The dish took several hours to cook and now must be validated by the GWR with photo and video evidence of the achievement.
Hilda told the broadcaster that it took her one year to plan how she would tackle the mammoth challenge.
“We are the giant of Africa, and jollof is a food that everybody knows Africans for,” she said.
“It would make sense if we had the biggest pot of jollof rice, it would be nice for the country.”
Manufacturing the giant steel vessel to hold her dish took a culinary team of 300 people two months to make.
Working with a group of assistants wielding massive wooden spatulas, Hilda’s crowning dish was later distributed for everyone to enjoy.
Jollof rice is a staple of Nigerian cuisine, featuring rice simmered in a tomato based sauce, often paired with meat or seafood.
The dish is also common on the West African coast, particularly in Ghana, whose nationals like to compete with Nigerians for jollof rice prizes.
Hilda won a competition for her version of jollof rice in 2021, and then became a national sensation in 2023 when she claimed the cooking marathon record.
As usual, GWR will verify the details before certifying the lates feat a world record.
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