{"id":398388,"date":"2017-07-07T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T08:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/07\/07\/photos-nigeria-wins-first-ever-jollof-festival-in-washington-dc\/"},"modified":"2017-07-07T08:00:29","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T08:00:29","slug":"photos-nigeria-wins-first-ever-jollof-festival-in-washington-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/07\/07\/photos-nigeria-wins-first-ever-jollof-festival-in-washington-dc\/","title":{"rendered":"PHOTOS: Nigeria wins first ever jollof festival in Washington DC"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On July 2, 2017, Ms. Atinuke Ogunsalu of Queensway Restaurant & Catering in Maryland, US, became the winner of\u00a0the first ever Jollof Hackathon\u00a0presented by\u00a0I\/O Spaces\u00a0during Jollof Festival In Washington DC. The event was organized by\u00a0Afropolitan Insights.<\/p>\n

Ms. Ogunsalu put skeptics to shame with her win and proved to all that Nigerians can indeed cook Jollof when she secured her country the win at the event. Her competitors at the event were Cameroon, Ghana, and Sierra Leone.\u00a0Jollof is\u00a0cooked in a single pot with rice and a tomato-based stew plus preferred meat, fish or poultry. It is very popular the world over\u00a0especially among West Africans.<\/p>\n

The winning chef arrived at the event venue; 1630 19th Street in North West of Washington DC, with high hopes despite heavy opposition fueled by the popular assertion at that Nigeria Jollof, was indeed nothing to write home about.<\/p>\n

A good number of the over 600 people that attended the #JollofFestival had high expectations of team Ghana Jollof to win, unfortunately, Ghana sold out due quickly of food, though they had called for backup it never arrived on time so they were beaten by the clock.<\/p>\n

According to Lucinda Mensah a Ghanaian Jollof enthusiast that TheAfricanDream.net spoke with said \u201cthere was no Ghana jollof to taste when it was time to judge as we sold all since people were buying it like crazy. If Ghana had just one teaspoonful of jollof for the judges to taste we could have easily won. I noticed the Nigerians had a truckload of their jollof on deck, they came to battle and won fair and square.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it was time to make their final presentations to the judges it was only Cameroon, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria that were left standing.<\/p>\n

Four-time\u00a0\u2018Embassy Chef Challenge\u2019 participant and executive chef at the Ghana Embassy in Washington DC\u00a0\u2014 Chef Francis Otoo \u2014 was joined by Gigi Ness of African Cuisine Inc, Tamara Raye of NATIVSOL, Maame Boakye of Dine Diaspora and Jamaican Andrea Coleman, (a) Jollof enthusiast, on the panel of judges to adjudge and announce the winner.<\/p>\n

Each finalist was given five minutes to present their dish to the judges who based their decisions on participants\u2019 presentation, taste, and originality.<\/p>\n

According to Chef Otoo whose opinion was shared by the other judges, Ms. Ogunsalu did not only \u201ccapture a great taste and healthy combination of ingredients in her meal, she did an awesome job at presentation and that was something very pleasing to the tongues and eyes of the judges\u201d he told TheAfricanDream.net a media partner of the event.<\/p>\n

Newly crowned #JollofFestival champion Ms. Ogunsalu told TheAfricanDream.net that she was glad to have carried the day for Nigeria, and felt that people can now actually jump off the fence and try Nigerian Jollof for themselves instead of being prejudiced.<\/p>\n

The winner walked away with $1000 coworking services from event partner I\/O Spaces and an opportunity to become a Chef at\u00a0Jollof Caviar; an upscale African Fusion Restaurant Opening in Washington DC in 2019.<\/p>\n

Ishmael Osekre, the Ghanaian-born, New York-based founder of Afropolitan Insights, creators of the festival in an interview with TheAfricanDream.net said he was very touched by the attendance and welcoming spirit received from participants, vendors, and the city of Washington DC, adding \u201cthanks to all your efforts we have set a great tone for #JollofFestival and we only look forward to building on it as we popularize the togetherness the meal brings here in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Afropolitan Insights is a collective of young Africans, African-Americans, and Caribbeans from Africa and in the Diaspora who curate events, create spaces for cultural exchange and social dialogue, celebrate diversity, innovation and ideas.<\/p>\n

The Jollof wars will continue at the Jollof Festival NYC on July 23rd where organizers are determined to ensure all competitors participate in the competitions.\u00a0To find out more about the premier Jollof Festival follow the #JollofFestival hashtag online or on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as @JollofFestival.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On July 2, 2017, Ms. Atinuke Ogunsalu of Queensway Restaurant & Catering in Maryland, US, became the winner of\u00a0the first ever Jollof Hackathon\u00a0presented by\u00a0I\/O Spaces\u00a0during Jollof Festival In Washington DC. The event was organized by\u00a0Afropolitan Insights. Ms. Ogunsalu put skeptics to shame with her win and proved to all that Nigerians can indeed cook Jollof […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":398389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\nPHOTOS: Nigeria wins first ever jollof festival in Washington DC - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/07\/07\/photos-nigeria-wins-first-ever-jollof-festival-in-washington-dc\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"PHOTOS: Nigeria wins first ever jollof festival in Washington DC - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"On July 2, 2017, Ms. Atinuke Ogunsalu of Queensway Restaurant & Catering in Maryland, US, became the winner of\u00a0the first ever Jollof Hackathon\u00a0presented by\u00a0I\/O Spaces\u00a0during Jollof Festival In Washington DC. 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