Ishmael Osekre wanted to settle the debates once and for all. Amid the everlasting argument over which West African country makes the best Jollof rice, in 2017, Osekre launched a competition that involved actually tasting the food instead of “trying to insult each other’s mama,” he says today, with a laugh.
On Saturday, July 18, the Jollof Festival returns to Oakland. Along with flavorful rice, the annual event includes live dance performances, an interactive kids zone, and handmade goods, in addition to the inevitable disputes about proper Jollof preparation.
After the inaugural Jollof Festival in Washington D.C. and a BBC article that swirled around the internet, other regions demanded local iterations of the festival. The community interest, enthusiasm and passion behind the “Jollof wars,” Osekre says on a recent phone call, encouraged him to take the show on the road in hopes of “properly preventing the next world war.”
In its most common form, Jollof rice is made with a combination of rice, meat, tomatoes and spices. Though said to originate in Senegal, nearly every country in West Africa has its own variety. And here in the Bay Area, the African diaspora is steadfast about repping their homeland through food…