...South Africa’s Indigenous Food?

South Africans love their food and Cape Town its variety of restaurants – but where does such an eclectic mix of tastes come from?

Rainbow cuisine for a rainbow nation. We love mixing and mashing – one only has to take a stroll down Long Street to see the variety of foods that South Africans enjoy. From Italian to Mexican to Chinese, there’s nary a country that isn’t being represented gastronomically.

The same goes for home-cooking; we’ll try pretty much anything, and we’ll try especially hard to master other countries specialities.

Historically Nutty

The origins of this probably comes from our colonial background. Pre colonialism, indigenous foods of our native cultures were made up of predominantly nuts, fruits, leaves – and of course game. Meat is and was a large part of South African eating habits - but I’ll get back to that in a minute.

A typical meal for a typical black family is known as ‘pap’ – and this has its origins in our ancestors culture too; this fluffy porridge made from maize meal (complete with a stew gravy) is staple food, and variants of it have always been. But even before colonialism came a-knocking with alternative palates, meat was the centre and basis of any South African meal.

Meat meat and more Meat

Beef for preference, but as long as it once ran away from spears and arrows, we aren’t too picky. You’ll be pushed to find any South African family (hippies aside) who DON’T have meat as the main portion of any meal. This is a large part of why Braai’s (barbecues for the uneducated) are so popular, really an every weekend activity. And of course dried meat, or Biltong. (Beef Jerky as the Americans know it).

Back to colonialism – South Africa was settled by the English, Dutch, French and German, and these nations brought all their culinary delights and extended taste buds with them. Something we’ve never been quite able to get rid of, democratic elections and all.                             

So our tastes were mixed with theirs; and that’s why today we have love for such wide variety; variety is what we love. That doesn’t however mean we are devoid of our own food extravaganza’s, by any means; South African Chefs are some of the most highly regarded in the world, as are our restaurants.

As for indigenous or especially loved foods, here are some examples of more popular choices:

Biltong

A salty dried meat – most popularly beef or kudu, but you can get ostrich or even rhino.

Bobotie

Malay in origin, Bobotie is like meatloaf with raisins and baked egg on top, and is often served with yellow rice, banana slices, and chutney.

Boerewors

A more often than not thicker sausage that is traditionally braaied.

Bunny Chow

A hollowed out half loaf of bread curry stuffed with curry; known as Kota by the locals.

Chakalaka

A garnish or food accompaniment made of Indian/Malay origin, made of mixed onion, garlic, ginger, green pepper, carrots and cauliflower, spiced with chillies and curry

Chutney

A sweet sauce made from fruit, usually poured on meat. Much like tomato sauce however, we put it on everything.

Koeksisters

Afrikaans koeksisters are twisted pastries (plaited in fact), deep fried and heavily sweetened. Delicous, but OH so sugary.

Malva Pudding

A sweet spongy Apricot Pudding of Dutch origin.

Melktert

A milk-based tart or dessert.

Mielie-Meal

Often used in baking but predominantly cooked into the above mentioned pap.

Potjiekos

A traditional Afrikaans stew, made with meat and vegetables and cooked over coals in cast-iron pots. Tremendously fun and easy to prepare.

Rusks

Rectangular, (hopefully) hard and dry biscuits eaten with tea or coffee, like biscuits we dunk them in our warm beverages. You can make your own, or buy them in any store.

Sosaties

You might know them as kebabs – grilled, marinated meat on a skewer.

Umngqusho

Made from white maize and sugar beans, a staple food for the Xhosa people.

Bokkoms

Bokkoms are Harders (Mullet) that are salted and strung into bunches before being hung up to dry. Almost like fish biltong...

Smoked Snoek

A regional Gamefish traditional to the Cape, and smoked (obviously).

Waterblommetjie (Water flower Stew)

Meat stewed with the flower of the Cape Pondweed

Gatsby

A style of Deli sandwich, very long rolls cut open lenthgwise and stuffed, normally with hot chips (French Fries) but a variety of fillings can be used.

By John Scharges

CapeTownMagazine.com walks around the Mother City and we encounter things and people that make us wonder... what's the deal with that? In this section we investigate that crucial core question. What is it in Cape Town that puzzles you? Tell us and we'll investigate it for you... send us your enigma or your answers to editor@capetownmagazine.com.