Nigerian celebrity chef Hilda Baci has explained why she reduced the quantity of rice in her Guinness World Record attempt for the largest serving of Nigerian jollof from 250 bags to 200.
The one-time record breaker for the longest cooking marathon told newsmen at the venue that the adjustment was strictly technical. According to her, the custom-made crane and measuring scale could only carry 20,000 kilogrammes, and anything beyond that would have been unsafe.
“If you notice, when we started, we weighed the pot,t and we need to weigh every single thing that goes into the pot when we’re done,” she said. “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.
“It’s safer for me to go below 20,000 kilogrammes so that my scale can carry it all at the same time, and basically that is why I had to cut down on the quantity, and I only cut it down by a thousand kilogrammes. This 4,000 kilogrammes of rice is 200 bags of rice, and it will still feed 20,000 people, so we’re still up there.”
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Baci described the attempt as her most ambitious project yet, one that took nearly a year of preparation.
“Honestly, Gino and I figuring this whole thing out was hectic. Figuring out how to fabricate the pots, it took Mr. Ayo two months to figure out and fabricate the pots. Then it took us about nine months to plan this event, and it took us almost nine hours to make the entire meal,” she revealed.
She added that her main motivation was to bring people together and feed as many as possible.
“I mean, have you looked around? There’s a lot of you. Some of you came with your cooler, so we need to make sure everybody’s fed. We’re feeding the nation,” she said.
The record attempt drew a massive crowd of food lovers, celebrities, and dignitaries, with Nollywood actress Funke Akindele, dancer Kaffy, and Ogun State First Lady Bamidele Abiodun among those who turned up to support her.
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