Celebrity chef Hilda Baci has explained why she cooked 200 bags of rice instead of the planned 250 during her Guinness World Record attempt for the largest serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice.
The chef, who attracted a massive crowd at the venue, said the decision was based on the weight capacity of the crane and measuring scale available for the event. The equipment could only hold 20,000 kilogrammes at once, and including the weight of the custom-made pot along with the rice would have exceeded this limit. To avoid any technical failure, she decided to stay below the threshold.
According to her, the rice prepared, though reduced, was still enough to serve about 20,000 people. She explained that the cut was only about 1,000 kilogrammes less than what was initially planned, with the 200 bags weighing around 4,000 kilogrammes.
The chef described the event as her most challenging project yet, one that took close to a year of planning. The pots used for the cooking were specially fabricated, a process that took about two months, while the entire event was put together over nine months. On the cooking day, the meal itself took nearly nine hours to prepare.
Baci added that beyond the record attempt, her intention was to create an opportunity to bring people together and feed as many as possible. The event eventually brought food lovers, celebrities, and dignitaries under one roof. Among those present were Nollywood actress Funke Akindele, dancer Kaffy, and the First Lady of Ogun State, Bamidele Abiodun.