Nigerian chef and restaurateur Hilda Baci has spoken about a tense moment during her Guinness World Record feat for cooking the largest pot of jollof rice, when the giant custom-made pot unexpectedly collapsed.
Speaking in a video interview shared on X on Tuesday, Hilda disclosed how the incident shook her confidence.
“When we had the mishap with the pot, my first few seconds, my heart was in my hands. I was very scared, very worried,” she said.
According to her, the priority at that point was feeding people, not the record itself, noting that the pot’s failure turned out to be helpful.
“For me, the record was not the most important thing. It was important that people got to taste and enjoy the food we had spent hours making.
“I would say it was a good thing that the pot caved because it made food distribution a lot easier… it was a blessing in disguise,” she explained.
Newsunplug reports that the dramatic scene unfolded on September 12 at the World Jollof Festival in Lagos, where Hilda and her team cooked nearly 8,780 kilograms (about 19,356 pounds) of jollof rice in a six-metre-wide pot designed to hold 23,000 litres.
As the crane hoisted the pot for weighing, one side gave way and the support legs collapsed, though the fiood remained intact.
Her team submitted photographic and video evidence of the weighing to Guinness World Records, which later certified her as the official holder of the largest pot of jollof rice cooked at one time.
Hilda recalled how swiftly they had to respond, making sure the process remained credible and properly documented.