The big jollof debate

No matter the ingredients, it is a meal that makes people salivate, especially when served hot. 

The most common basic ingredients for jollof rice in the sub-region are tomatoes and tomato paste, onion, salt, chili or red pepper and rice. Additionally, different kinds of meat, vegetables and spices such as nutmeg and ginger are thrown in depending on the cook’s taste.

There is debate, however, raging now on some social media platforms about which West African country makes the best jollof rice. It appears to be something triggered by the age-old rivalry between Ghanaians and Nigerians.

The Gambians are believed to have originated the meal but it is now well loved across West Africa with countries such as Liberia, Nigeria and Ghana formulating their own recipes over time. 

“Everybody has their own taste and it is hard to say which one is the best. Being Ghanaian, however, I lean towards the Ghanaian taste, and say ours is the best. 

“That’s because I believe our approach has become a bit more universal owing to the ingredients and additions we use. They are vegetables and spices which work well on a lot of palates globally, than what comes from other places,” says PaJohn Dadson, who runs PaJohn’s, an eatery at Kanda in Accra.

“We usually cook ours with carrots and meat, tastes conversant to a lot of people, no matter where they come from. So eating ours is like enjoying rice with gravy and your regular familiar vegetables; unlike the original Sene-Gambia kind where whole garden eggs and okro are used.”

Many Nigerians are, however, not ready to accept any argument that the Ghanaian approach is the best because it is universal and all that.

“No jollof from any part of the world beats Nigerian jollof. We have special ingredients that Ghana people don’t have. We make the best,” said Toyin Falade, who lives on the Spintex Road in Accra.

A Togolese woman resident in Accra, Annick Ajavon, said her mother invited a Gambian woman to cook for them anytime the family wanted to eat jollof rice.

“The Gambian jollof tends to be more wet or softer than the dry way Nigerians and Ghanaians do theirs. My mother’s Gambian friend always brought a certain nice taste to her jollof,’’she added.

So no matter how the jollof rice you love is prepared, the great thing is that the meal is one of West Africa’s wonderful contributions to the culinary arts of the world.