Nigerian celebrity chef Hilda Baci’s latest bid to set a Guinness World Record ended in drama on Saturday after the enormous pot she used to cook jollof rice buckled while being lifted to be weighed.
Thousands gathered in Lagos to witness the event. Baci, 28, who rose to global fame in 2023 after setting the record for the longest cooking marathon, had prepared an ambitious dish that included 4,000 kilograms of rice, 500 cartons of tomato paste, 600 kilograms of onions and 168 kilograms of goat meat. The food was cooked in a specially manufactured steel pot designed to hold up to 23,000 liters.
The chef and her team of 10 assistants stirred the dish for nine hours using oversized wooden spoons. But when the massive red vessel was hoisted by a crane so it could be weighed, one of its supporting legs gave way, causing the pot to buckle. Videos circulating on social media showed the crowd gasping as the mishap unfolded. Fortunately, the food did not spill.
Despite the setback, Baci’s team said they are compiling video evidence from multiple cameras to submit to Guinness World Records for verification. The organization had wished her luck on social media ahead of the attempt.
After the failed weighing, the dish was divided into individual portions and shared with the huge crowd in attendance.
Baci told BBC Pidgin that the record attempt took a year of planning and involved more than 300 people in manufacturing the custom pot. “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.”
Guinness World Records has yet to confirm the outcome.
