From childhood staple to luxury food: how Nigeria’s jollof became too expensive to eat

Home-cooked smoky jollof rice with fried plantain and chicken. The dish is traditionally served over the festive holidays. Photograph: Pelumi Salako

In Lagos, the holiday season is well under way. For weeks, the roads have been jammed with traffic, concerts headlined by Afrobeats superstars are drawing crowds, and choice spots are filled with residents, returnees and tourists looking to indulge in the month-long enjoyment of Detty December.

But the spotlight is on the contents of kitchen pots as much as it is on those shuffling to the trendy Oblee dance steps in clubs and street parties.