At Oakland Jollof Festival, West African Chefs Face Off in Rice Battle Royale
Here’s how it works: Anyone can pay a $10 general admission ticket to participate in the day’s festivities, which will include a lineup of West African food vendors, booths selling clothing, jewelry and art, and various cultural performances and family-friendly activities. But attendees who want to vote will need to purchase a higher-tier ticket ($45), which grants access to a blind tasting of samples of each competitor’s jollof rice.
Since this is a blind tasting, a voter from Ghana would not automatically be able to vote for the Ghanaian dish. Judging would have to be based on taste alone, although jollof connoisseurs might still be able to spot the representative from their own country of origin. For example, Tijaniqudus explains that Nigerian jollof is famous for its distinctive smoky taste, so anyone familiar with that taste would have recognised his dish from last year after taking a bite: “Oh shit, that’s Nigerian jollof!” And Ralphina Seymoun, who represented Gambia in last year’s competition with her husband Mohamed Bereteh, says she served a special white jollof – made with broken jasmine rice and no tomatoes – that is only found in Gambia.
San Jose-based catering company Tutti Fruti Kitchen didn’t win last year’s Jollof festival. Gambia is such a small country, she explains, that it would be hard to beat Nigeria in a popularity contest. “But we sold out first,” she says with obvious pride. This year, Seymoun and her husband will change tack and compete on behalf of Bereteh’s native Sierra Leone. It’s a simpler type of red rice, Seymoun explains, whose main characteristic is that the meat and sauce are cooked separately and served on top instead of being stir-fried together.
While the names of her rivals have yet to be revealed, she will likely face some tough competition, with contenders representing Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and Senegal also vying for the crown. Will Seymon’s second time be the charm, allowing Sierra Leone to lift the final trophy this year?
The only way to find out, as the event organizers like to say, is to let the jollof wars begin.
Oakland Jollof Festival will take place on Saturday, July 13, from 2 to 7 p.m., at 7th West (1255 7th St.) in West Oakland — although, as event organizers have indicated, disclaimer Notes: “This is an African event, things may be on African time.” Tickets start at $10 – $45 if you want to participate (and vote) in the blind tasting of the competitors’ jollofs.
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