Jollof rice, or jollof (/dlf/), also known as benachin in Wolof ('one pot'), is a one-pot rice dish popular in many West African countries such as Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Togo and Mali. It is also called 'reddish one-pot dish' and varies in these countries.
Jollof rice is one of the most common dishes in West Africa. There are several regional variations in name and ingredients. In Mali it is called zaam in Bamanankan. The dish's most common name of Jollof derives from the name of the Wolof people, though in Senegal and Gambia the dish is referred to in Wolof as ceebu jn or benachin. In French-speaking areas, it is called riz au gras. Despite the variations, the dish is "mutually intelligible" across the regions had become the best known African dish outside the continent.
Based on its name, the origins of jollof rice can be traced to the Senegambian region that was ruled by the Jolof Empire. Food and agriculture historian James C. McCann considers this claim plausible given the popularity of rice in the upper Niger valley, but considers it unlikely that the dish could have spread from Senegal to its current range since such a diffusion is not seen in "linguistic, historical or political patterns". Instead he proposes that the dish spre
