Hilda Baci has officially started her latest Guinness World Record attempt: cooking the largest pot of Nigerian jollof rice ever. The event kicked off on September 12, 2025, at Eko Hotels & Suites in Lagos, after being moved from the original venue due to massive interest. She’s partnering with the seasoning brand Gino for the event dubbed the “Gino World Jollof Fest with Hilda Baci”.
The pot she’ll use is enormous — roughly six meters wide and six meters tall, with a volume of 22,619 litres. Her plan is to fill it to about 75–80% capacity. To do this, she will use 250 bags of rice, which amounts to over 5,200 kilograms of raw basmati rice.
For the condiments, she revealed that about 1,583 kilograms of tomato paste will be needed, along with additional flavouring agents like pepper chicken paste and jollof paste, plus herbs like garlic, ginger, fresh thyme and rosemary.
Hilda Baci’s event is free to attend, and over 20,000 people registered to be part of this culinary history. It’s being held with music, community celebrations, and is designed as more than just a cooking attempt — it’s a cultural festival.
She’s also shared behind-the-scenes glimpses: washing the massive pot herself, making sure it’s “squeaky clean,” and preparing with her mother, among other things, showing how personally invested she is.
She was born Hilda Effiong Bassey, in Akwa Ibom State. She studied Sociology at Madonna University, Okija. Her business, My Food by Hilda, started small and grew from cooking meals from home to delivering large-scale catering services. You’ll also find she’s been on TV shows, acted, and has become known both for her food and her strong presence online.
Her previous world record was the longest cooking marathon by an individual, which she set in May 2023 — she cooked continuously for 93 hours, 11 minutes. That effort put her in global headlines and earned her a Guinness World Record title.
That record, however, was later broken by an Irish chef, Alan Fisher, who cooked for 119 hours and 57 minutes. Still, Hilda’s performance remains one of the standout achievements in recent years.
This new attempt is thus a different kind of challenge: it’s not about time, but about scale — how massive a pot of jollof rice she can cook, how many people she can serve, how well she manages the logistics and retains the authentic taste.
Her motivation has been framed not just as personal ambition, but as cultural pride. She’s emphasized how jollof rice is “the heartbeat of West Africa,” and this attempt serves to celebrate Nigerian food, music, community spirit, and her earlier dreams.
Support and encouragement have come from many sides: the Guinness World Records organization is officially wishing her luck. Fans and followers are excited. Sponsors like Gino are providing seasoning and logistical support.
There are technical and logistical challenges, though: getting the pot built, ensuring it cooks evenly, managing the ingredients in the right proportions, hygiene, crowd control, and meeting Guinness’s verification requirements.
But Hilda seems ready: she’s shared rehearsals, shown her team testing out the setup, revealed her calculations, shown her dedication in cleaning and preparing the equipment, and drawing on her past experience with the cook-athon.