Nigerian cuisine's beloved deep-fried dough ball, puff puff, became the unlikely star of a culinary showdown, the "Puff Puff Olympics," hosted by the Cocoa Butter channel. This lighthearted but fierce competition saw three Nigerian food enthusiasts—Olu, Uncle Che (Chbo), and Akuna—test their skills and showcase how cultural pride, tribal influences, and even social media are shaping the traditional African doughnut hole.
Puff puff is essentially an "African doughnut hole". It is a pastry typically made with flour, yeast, nutmeg, and sugar. The dough rises after the yeast is added, and it is then put in a frying pan to cook until it starts to rise and turn brown. The perfect puff puff is expected to be "crunchy on the outside but the inside is so soft", delivering "a puff of goodness" when eaten.
The first entry, presented by Olu from the Yoruba tribe, was immediately praised for its deep golden color. When pulled apart, the pastry was deemed "soft and tender". However, the general consensus among the tasters was that the dish "needs more sugar". Tasters noted they tasted "more nutmeg than sweetness" and that the aftertaste was "just straight nutmeg". One taster still found it "pretty decent" and gave it an eight out of ten. Another taster, however, criticized the lack of presentation, noting the dish had "no like sugar on the side" or "chocolate". That taster gave it a six, insisting that the plate needed "design," like honey or powder on top, to be "appealing to the eyes appealing to the soul". Olu confessed to Cocoa Butter that he "learned on Tik-Tok and YouTube literally last night at 2:00 a.m.". Another taster joked that if their mother-in-law made this puff puff, they would only eat two before claiming to be full.
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The second dish, brought by Uncle Che, an Igbo man, took an audacious, non-traditional approach, aiming to be "big" because he is a "big dude". Uncle Che’s special puff puff incorporated "a little bit of my mom's cooking" and "a little bit of my girl's cooking too," who is from the Caribbean. The dish featured cinnamon right on top and also cooked "literally inside and outside" of the puff puff, and it was dazzled with honey. Uncle Che described his creation as "tantalizing". While the presentation and the honey were initially loved, the dish quickly divided the tasters. Some found the texture "a bit tough," with one taster stating, "I'm not sure if I'm gonna break my teeth on this one". The texture was likened to a "Jamaican dumpling," which has a harder outside and softer inside, contrasting with traditional puff puff that is supposed to be soft throughout. The heavy use of cinnamon was heavily criticized, as "all I taste is cinnamon". One taster concluded, "The texture alone has lost me" and rated it a three, urging to "just keep it simple". Uche later conceded that he "made a little Jamaica".
The final submission came from Akuna, an Igbo girl, who aimed to create "sweet puff puff," based on a recipe learned from her mother. She used all-purpose flour, fast yeast, sugar, nutmeg, and vanilla, starting her process at 4:00 a.m. She aimed for a perfect color mixture, "not too burnt... not too light". This dish was plated with powdered sugar, granulated sugar, and drizzled with chocolate syrup. It was immediately praised as "Gen Z Puff Puff" and likened to a donut. It was also noted for being the softest of the three samples. However, the array of toppings was divisive. The chocolate syrup was criticized for "overpowering any taste that I can actually get from the puff puff itself," likened to tasting only frosting on a cupcake.
When tasted without the syrup, it was deemed "not bad but it doesn't feel like puff puff". Despite the mix of scores—including a six, a seven, and a nine out of ten—this entry was deemed a serious threat to winning, having given the judges the "pizzazz" and "spunk", they were looking for. One taster thought that because the dish was plated with such care—caring about "somebody's heart like this"—it had to have been made by a woman.
The Cocoa Butter competition reaffirmed that the perfect puff puff demands balance and adherence to tradition, though innovation in toppings can sometimes sway a score.
