Two thousand people stood in line near D.C.'s Union Market last Saturday for a yellow box of six color-coded taster cups and the chance to settle one of the most passionately contested debates in the entire West African diaspora: who actually makes the best jollof rice. A Ghanaian chef won for the third consecutive time. An American came in second. And somewhere, a Senegalese grandmother is beside herself.
A Rivalry Older Than Most Countries
Look, if you think American political discourse is heated, you have clearly never tried to explain to a Nigerian that Ghanaian jollof rice might be better. The jollof wars are real, they are ancient, and they are deeply personal. No fewer than 10 countries across West Africa claim their own version of jollof, a rich, fragrant rice cooked down with spices, tomatoes and meat that has been feeding people across the region for centuries.
Senegal in particular would like you to know that they invented the dish in the 14th century, and therefore the whole debate should be settled already. According to NPR, the Senegalese have a point about the origin story, but winning the room and winning the trophy are two different things. The Jollof Festival, which has been traveling across the United States since 2017, has been putting this to a blind public vote because sometimes democracy is used for good.
Six Countries, Six Chefs, One Very Long Line
The D.C. edition of the Jollof Festival brought in chefs from the metro area representing Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia and, for the first time in the competition's history, the United States. Each sample was color-coded. Nobody knew which cup came from which country. Two thousand people showed up to do the work.
NPR reports that the samples ranged from bright red to a deeper yellow jollof, some flecked with herbs, each one carrying the particular stamp of a different culinary tradition. Some attendees were convinced they could identify their country's entry on taste alone. Others were just thrilled to have six small cups of free rice and a reason to argue with strangers.
Liberia, for what it's worth, had a vocal champion in D.C. resident Virginia Richards, 26, who showed up in a red-and-cream Liberian blouse ready to make her case. "Liberia has the best jollof, and I feel like because we're such a small country, we don't get the hype we deserve," she told NPR. This is a completely correct political statement and also a deeply relatable feeling for anyone who has ever rooted for an underdog.
The Secret Is Love (Also Starting at 5 a.m.)
Behind Senegal's submission was 27-year-old chef Mamadou Koité, who runs the Koité Grill in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his family. According to NPR, he and his mother started cooking at 5 a.m., grilling lamb and chicken and preparing tomatoes and peppers for the sauce. The man earned whatever he got.
Koité told NPR that the festival isn't really about winning. "It feels like we're really putting ourselves out there, as Africans," he said. "I feel like people are really getting in tune with what it means to be African, and what it means to know the food and know the culture." That is a genuinely lovely thing to say, and it is the kind of quote that makes you feel briefly okay about the world before you go back to reading the news.
Ghana Wins, America Shows Up Swinging
After six hours of tasting, festival organizers crowned Ghanaian chef Kafui Attakpah the winner for the third consecutive year. NPR reports that Attakpah, co-owner of Calabash African Cuisine and Bar in Alexandria, Virginia, accepted a trophy adorned with a small pot of jollof rice. The crowd cheered loudly. The Nigerian contingent presumably had thoughts.
But here is the twist that nobody saw coming: the American representative, Jermaine Foreman-Marshall of a catering company called The Maine Course, took second place. In a post-event Instagram post quoted by NPR, he wrote: "They didn't know who cooked it. They didn't know an American was behind the pot. They just knew that GREEN CUP was hitting!" He added that he came "to show my love for the culture, represent respectfully, and prove I've been paying attention all these years." That is an extremely good way to enter someone else's competition and finish second without making anyone want to throw rice at you.
The Jollof Festival heads next to Atlanta, then North Carolina Central University, Dallas and Houston this fall. If you are in any of those cities and you have a strong opinion about whose jollof rice is correct, now is your chance to settle it scientifically.
The Dingo Take
You are supposed to believe that Americans don't have a dog in this fight. That jollof rice is a West African tradition and any U.S. entry in this competition is at best a respectful gesture and at worst a gentrification-adjacent move. And yet, here is Jermaine Foreman-Marshall, catering background, no ancestral claim, just years of paying close attention to a cuisine that isn't his by birth, and he finishes second in a blind tasting behind a three-time defending champion. That is either a genuinely heartwarming story about food as a universal language or proof that Americans will absolutely show up to someone else's competition and try to win it. Probably both.
What the Jollof Festival actually is, though, is a reminder that the stuff worth caring about is often hiding underneath the news we are force-fed every single day. Two thousand people in Washington, D.C., stood in line for hours, not to protest something or attend a fundraiser or perform civic engagement for a camera, but to eat rice and argue about it. Senegalese and Nigerian and Ghanaian and Liberian Americans and their neighbors, comparing cups and defending childhoods and debating spice levels. That's a city that still works on some level.
Ghana wins again. Senegal will never accept it. Liberia deserves more credit than it gets. And somewhere in the DMV, an American catering chef is going to spend the next several months hearing about that green cup. Respect.
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