Hilda Baci’s big bet: Could Nigerian food go as global as Chinese cuisine?

Nigerian chef and Guinness World Record holder Hilda Baci says she wants Nigerian restaurants to become as commonplace around the world as Chinese ones, CNN reports.

“My goal is that, any country that you go to, the way you would almost always find a Chinese restaurant, you would almost always find a Nigerian restaurant,” Baci told CNN’s Larry Madowo. Chinese cuisine took generations to spread, with about 700,000 Chinese restaurants outside China in 2025, according to the International Supply Chain Conference of Chinese Cuisine.

Baci plans to take her Lagos restaurant, My Food by Hilda, abroad, starting with Dubai, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, though she has no timeline. She wants to change the notion that Nigerian food is merely spicy. Spice levels can be adjusted for different palates, she said, but the core ingredients must stay. “I’m not going not to put locust beans inside my ofada [rice] because it smells so strong,” she said.

Culinary anthropologist and James Beard Award-winning author Ozoz Sokoh called the dream “more than realistic.” She noted that there is no single Nigerian cuisine, as hundreds of ethnic groups each have their own food traditions. Nigeria’s population, estimated at 242 million in 2026, its diaspora and social media are helping the cuisine spread, she said.

Sokoh pointed to growing Nigerian grocery stores, more restaurants and food festivals. In 2024, Adejoké Bakare of London’s Chishuru became the UK’s first Black female chef to earn a Michelin star.

Still, Sokoh said more is needed: “There’s a whole pipeline that we have to consider.” She called for a clearer national food identity, better records of regional food history, stronger links with agriculture and government support.

Baci believes there is room for other entrepreneurs. “I don’t think about the competition,” she said.