In Lagos, the city where smoke from roadside suya grills rises into the humid night and Sunday rice perfumes the streets, Hilda Effiong Bassey, better known as Hilda Baci, is preparing another spectacle. This time, she is not just chasing a personal milestone. She is reaching for something that blends record-breaking ambition with cultural symbolism: the world’s largest pot of jollof rice.

On September 12, 2025, Muri Okunola Park in Victoria Island will host a sight few could imagine—a pot of rice six metres wide and six metres tall, designed to hold thousands of servings of the dish that has become West Africa’s most famous export. For Hilda, who stunned the world in 2023 with her cooking marathon of 93 hours and 11 minutes, officially recognized by Guinness World Records, this is not merely a stunt. It is, in her own words, “a celebration of our food, our culture, our music, and us.”

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Hilda has a gift for turning cooking into storytelling. Her 2023 cook-a-thon drew Nigerians from all walks of life—celebrities, politicians, students, market women, and curious onlookers—who lined up outside her tent to cheer, dance, and taste. The event dominated social media, broadcast Nigeria’s culinary scene to the world, and briefly made her the longest-cooking human in history. Though her record was later surpassed by Irish chef Alan Fisher, Hilda’s feat remains unmatched in cultural impact. She became a symbol of perseverance and of what happens when you turn a kitchen into a stage.

This new attempt, however, is bigger in every sense—not only in size but in meaning. To understand why the world’s largest pot of jollof matters, one has to step back into the kitchens of history.

Jollof: A Dish That Refuses Borders

Jollof rice is older than the hashtags, older than the playful rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana, older even than the modern states that now claim it. Its roots stretch back to the Wolof Empire, which flourished from the 14th to 16th centuries in what is today Senegal and The Gambia. The Wolof people gave the dish its name, and their version—known asthieboudienne—was rice simmered in tomato broth, with fish and vegetables added for richness.

From there, the dish began to travel, carried along trade routes and across borders. By the 19th century, as rice cultivation spread and new varieties were introduced during the colonial period, tomato-based rice dishes began appearing from Senegal to Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria. Over time, each region claimed and shaped the dish according to taste and ingredients.

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In Nigeria, long-grain parboiled rice is common, resulting in grains that hold firm even in rich stews of tomato and pepper. Nigerian cooks are also fond of adding Scotch bonnet peppers, giving their jollof its fiery kick and that smoky edge often described as “party jollof”—a flavor born from cooking over firewood in massive outdoor pots. In Ghana, the dish leans on a smoother, tomato-forward sauce with less heat, often cooked with fragrant spices like nutmeg and cloves. In Senegal, the original ceebu jen remains rooted in fresh fish, vegetables, and broken rice.

This culinary diversity is precisely what makes jollof such a powerful symbol. It belongs to no single nation, yet every nation defends its version with passionate pride. Few foods in the world ignite as much playful competition.

The so-called “Jollof Wars”—fueled by social media, food festivals, and even diplomatic banter—pit Nigeria against Ghana in a rivalry that has outgrown kitchens and spilled into global culture.

When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg visited Lagos in 2016 and declared that he had tried Nigerian jollof and liked it, Ghanaians erupted online, insisting he had not tasted theirs yet. The moment became an international headline, illustrating just how deeply a pot of rice can cut into national pride.

But beneath the teasing and the rivalry lies something more profound: jollof as a unifier. Across West Africa, the dish is the heartbeat of celebrations. Weddings, birthdays, naming ceremonies, and even funerals often feature a massive pot of jollof as the centerpiece of the meal.

Guests measure the quality of an event by the quality of the rice—too dry, too soggy, too bland, and the complaints will echo long after the music fades. At the same time, jollof is a dish of comfort, of family dinners on Sundays, of community gatherings, of pots scraped clean by eager children.

In the diaspora, it has become even more symbolic. In cities like London, New York, and Toronto, jollof is often the first dish through which outsiders encounter African cuisine. Food festivals and pop-up restaurants showcase it as the star attraction, and for many Africans abroad, the smell of tomatoes and peppers cooking down into that signature red base is a reminder of home. It carries memory, belonging, and pride.

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This is the cultural weight Hilda Baci is carrying into her attempt. It is why she has partnered with Gino, a household seasoning brand, to make sure her giant pot has the consistency and flavor to match its size. It is also why she has framed the event not simply as a Guinness Record attempt but as a festival. Alongside the cooking will be music, dance, and community, transforming Muri Okunola Park into more than a kitchen—it will become a cultural arena. Portions of the rice will be distributed to charity homes, ensuring the achievement nourishes not only pride but people.

“Almost two years ago I had the dream to cook the largest pot of Jollof Rice ever made. And now, with Gino-Naija and YOU, that dream is coming alive,” Hilda shared in her Instagram announcement. The post, accompanied by a video of the massive custom-built pot, sparked excitement across Nigeria and beyond.

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For some, the attempt is a chance to win bragging rights in the endless Jollof Wars. For others, it is a chance to showcase African food on the global stage, moving beyond stereotypes of “exotic cuisine” to present jollof as a dish with history, complexity, and identity. For Hilda, it is also personal. Having already shown she can push the limits of endurance in 2023, she is now proving she can push the limits of scale.

Yet if anyone can pull it off, it is Hilda Baci. Her cook-a-thon in 2023 proved she is more than just a chef—she is an event-maker. The images of Lagos crowds camping outside her kitchen tent, dancing late into the night as she cooked, remain etched in public memory. In an age when food content floods Instagram and TikTok, Hilda managed to turn cooking into a national celebration.

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This time, she is doing it again—but with a dish that carries centuries of history and emotion. When the first ladle dips into that massive pot on September 12, it will not just be rice and tomatoes that fill the bowls. It will be the legacy of the Wolof Empire, the laughter of Nigerian owambes, the pride of Ghanaian kitchens, and the resilience of Africans who carry their food as a badge of identity wherever they go.

Most Nigerians are left asking questions like “How’s she going to turn it? How many cartons of seasoning and bags of rice will she use? Will the food be sweet?” Guess we will all find out on the 12th of September.

Food, at its best, is never just food. It is memory, it is politics, it is rivalry, it is pride. And jollof rice, more than any other West African dish, embodies this truth. Which is why, when Hilda Baci stirs her record-breaking pot, she will not only be making history. She will be stirring the soul of a continent.