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The road to Jos Food Festival 2026 has already begun.

With the Festival scheduled for 18–20 December at Nirvana Park & Gardens, Jos, organizers are using a series of food, cultural and community experiences to build towards an edition themed “This Is Plateau.”

Produced by the CHEF ELVIS Company, the Festival is being developed as a three-day experience combining food, entertainment, culture, fashion, tourism, enterprise, creativity and brand experiences.

One of the most significant elements is The Season, a proposed 72-hour Nigerian-style shawarma record bid involving the continuous preparation and serving of 3,000 shawarmas.

The Season is expected to operate throughout the Festival, bringing together chefs, production teams, volunteers, partners and guests in a live culinary production.

The project is currently being developed with operational systems covering food preparation, food safety, staffing, logistics, documentation and quality control, alongside relevant technical and professional validation processes.

Before December, however, the team has been using smaller activations to introduce the concept and test different elements of the experience.

A recent Shawarma Pop-Up in Jos welcomed 1,304 guests, with 533 customers served, giving the team an opportunity to observe public response and test aspects of production and operations.

Another planned layer of the campaign is Dress Code: Plateau, a cultural and fashion activation inviting participants to interpret Plateau identity through traditional and contemporary fashion, photography, content and storytelling.

These experiences form part of a broader strategy to introduce the Festival gradually, allowing different aspects of its identity to reach audiences before the December event.

At the Festival itself, audiences can expect a culinary programme spanning indigenous Plateau dishes, traditional meals, grills, fried foods, pastries, small chops, contemporary meals and modern street-food concepts.

The wider programme will include music, entertainment, games, fashion, cultural storytelling, creator experiences and brand activations.

Local restaurants, food entrepreneurs and emerging brands will also have opportunities to connect directly with audiences and showcase their products.

For Festival Director Chef Elvis Katlong Henry, the activities leading to December are ultimately about creating a larger platform for Plateau.

“The world-record ambition may attract attention, but Plateau is the story. We want people to experience our food, our people, our creativity, our hospitality and the energy that makes Jos different. This Is Plateau is our way of putting all of that in one place.”

By December, the different pieces will come together at Nirvana Park & Gardens.

Three days.

One Festival.

One central idea:

This Is Plateau.

Event: Jos Food Festival 2026
Theme: This Is Plateau
Dates: 18–20 December 2026
Venue: Nirvana Park & Gardens, Jos, Plateau State
Major Experience: The Season — proposed 72-hour Nigerian-style shawarma record bid