Chef Hilda Baci has achieved a new Guinness World Record for preparing the largest serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice, weighing 8,780 kilogrammes (19,356 lb 9 oz).
The milestone, accomplished in partnership with Gino on Friday in Victoria Island, Lagos, has now been officially confirmed.
Announcing the achievement on Monday via X (formerly Twitter), Guinness World Records posted, “New record: 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.”
Baci, who first gained fame with her record-breaking cook-a-thon, has once again placed Nigerian cuisine on the global stage.
During the attempt on Friday, Guinness World Records had sent her words of encouragement. In a video, the record body said, “What’s cookin’?
Best of luck to @hildabacicooks who’s attempting a new record for the largest serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice today.”
The event attracted a massive crowd of supporters, celebrities, and food lovers who gathered to witness the historic feat.
According to Baci, the specially designed pot used for the challenge had a capacity of 22,619 litres, and her goal was to fill it up to 80 per cent. She explained this would require about 5,278 kilogrammes of raw basmati rice, equivalent to 264 bags, but she rounded it to 250 bags as part of her strategy.
She later told newsmen on Friday that she eventually cooked with 200 bags of rice, noting that the measuring crane and scale created to weigh the final dish had a limit of 20,000 kilogrammes, including the pot itself.
“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.
The goal was that by the time I was done making 5,000 kilogrammes I was hoping to achieve about 17,000 to 18,000 kilogrammes.
Right now, if I include the weight of the pot, that’s about 20,000,” Hilda said.
She added that the 200 bags cooked still amounted to 4,000 kilogrammes of rice, enough to feed 20,000 people.
The event soon turned into a carnival-like celebration, with music, dancing, and appearances from several popular personalities. Nollywood actress Funke Akindele mounted the stage to commend Baci’s resilience before joining her at the cooking spot to stir the tomato base for the rice.
The First Lady of Ogun State, Bamidele Abiodun, was also in attendance to show her support.
Other celebrities present included dancer Kaffy, Tomike Adeoye, Enioluwa, Peller, Veekee James, Femi Atere, Tacha, Papaya, Samuel Banks, Alex Unusual, Folagbade Banks, and Spyro, among others.
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