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West African Jollof Festival fetes delicious cultural cuisine

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On Saturday, Los Angeles will welcome the West African Jollof Festival presented by Demand Africa, at 1001 N Broadway, from 3  to 8 p.m.

The festival is all about West African culture, and what other way is there to celebrate it than with traditional West African dishes from Senegal to Cameroon.

The Jollof Festival highlights the ingredients and tastes that vary from different West African regions and invites local chefs, restaurants, and caterers to come together in a friendly competition between countries to decide who in the city has the best Jollof rice.

If you’ve never heard of Jollof rice, now it’s a good time to expand your cultural horizons. Jollof rice is a traditional West African dish garnished with tomatoes and tomato paste, spices, onions, cooking oil and either goat meat or beef. It is mixed together and cooked in one pot, and varies in the name and ingredients, depending on the region it comes from. Jollof rice is a popular dish made for special occasions such as birthdays, graduations, and weddings.

The dish is said to have originated during the Jolof Empire, in the  Senegambian region. The name “Jollof,” however, derives from the Wolof people, who are a West African ethnic group, found in the northwestern part of Senegal, Gambia, and in the southwestern coastal part of Mauritania. In most parts of West Africa they are considered a minority, but in Senegal the Wolof people are considered to be the largest ethnic group.

The first Jollof Festival began in July 2017 in Washington, D.C. to introduce an important aspect of the West African culture to America, and bring some fun to generations of persons familiar with West African cuisine.  For centuries, natives of various West African countries have claimed to have the best Jollof rice, and that friendly competition reportedly led to the origin of the  Jollof Festival.

Attendees will have the chance to sample an anonymous variety of Jollof dishes, each with its own flavorful touch from participants representing five West African countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, and Senegal. Attendees will then vote for which dish they like the best. Each participating country’s Jollof is assigned and labeled a specific color. Guests taste all Jollof options, and then use their phones to vote for the color they like best, unaware of which color is associated with which country. It’s a competitive celebration with a lot of “heat in the kitchen,” but that’s what makes the Jollof Festival so unique.

In addition to the Jollof competition, guests will join celebrity host, “Star of Fela on Broadway,” Duain Richmond, for a day of shopping an array of vendor stalls, enjoying delicious cuisine from local African restaurants, sipping on tropical cocktails, dancing to Afrique beats from multiple DJs and African dance performances.

Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased on Eventbrite. Tickets for $30 will cover the entrance, tasting and voting. VIP tickets are $100 and include unlimited food, cocktails and a private lounge area. The event is open to all ages (children 12 and under enter for free).

All ticket holders will receive 50 percent off a year’s membership with Demand Africa, the largest streaming platform celebrating contemporary Africa’s influence on the world. Demand Africa’s mission, like its principal cable offering, The Africa Channel, is to demystify modern Africa and its people to viewers, across the globe.

For more information, go to https://jolloffestival.com/

To purchase tickets, visit  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/la-jollof-festival-19-tickets-64642114304.

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