When it comes to cuisine, South Africa has a rich, diverse collection of dishes. Have you ever tried explaining it to someone else? It isn’t something that can be done in a single sentence! Let’s take a look at South African food culture and some of the sources of these varied dishes that we call our own.
A lot of the food we eat today, as well as its preparation, can be attributed to the people living here and their nomadic lifestyles. While South Africans are no longer nomadic, many of the cooking methods and original ingredients still see use centuries later.
For example, the nomadic Khoisan gathered food from the field and the coast, eating ostrich eggs, game, roots, leaves, berries as well as mussels, abalone, crayfish and more. Later they started livestock farming, with sheep and eventually cattle, which added more meat to the menu. This is the origins of kaiings, the crisply fried sheep-tail fat used in some dishes.
These foraging techniques were used by early settlers and the Voortrekkers, who also lived a nomadic lifestyle. The potjie was a useful utensil and many one-pot meals were made in it, using hunted game and foraged edible plants and herbs. It is from this history that the famous Waterblommetjie bredie comes: a delicious stew with little creamy white flowers from the dams and ponds of the Boland region.
Dutch settlers brought with them a love of stews, as well as a variety of vegetables from back home. Eventually, these settlers also took to hunting game, grilling the meat over an open flame and a love for spices from the slaves from Indonesia, Malaysia and Madagascar. This melting pot of Dutch, Khoi and Malay cooking has evolved into what is now called Cape Dutch and Cape Malay cuisine. Does anyone want a bobotie?
It wasn’t just Dutch settlers that brought cooking styles to the country. Colonists from Germany, France and Britain all had their influences. German colonists introduced their wurst, which would eventually be the base that evolves into boerewors, complete with its mix of spices and cooked over an open flame. The French Huguenots influenced cuisine by changing the way food was served, organising the dishes into a sequence of courses, rather than serving everything at once and letting people choose what they wanted to eat. They also brought their knowledge of wine-making, and vineyards.
When the British arrived, the English breakfast came with them, as did a love of puddings, pies and the English roast. English breakfast replaced the custom of serving the previous night’s leftovers as breakfast (though who can say no to leftovers for breakfast from time to time?)
Later the Portuguese people started migrating to South Africa from Madeira, Angola, and Mozambique. These Portuguese colonies had incorporated the use of chillies in their dishes and as a result, South African-Portuguese cuisine is much hotter than European-Portuguese cuisine. One such example is the trinchado, a spicy beef dish that is proudly South African!
Some 200 years after the arrival of the Malay slaves, indentured labourers from India arrived in Durban harbour. Many stayed after their 10-year contracts ended, as did their cooking traditions. There are 22 main varieties of curries that now find a home in South Africa, and curry and rice is almost as popular as pap and vleis.
It wasn’t just people from overseas that brought recipes and changes to South African food. The Bantu people arrived around 1000AD, bringing with them iron tools for agriculture. They cultivated maize, sorghum, millet, and vegetables, as well as keeping cattle, which were used for milk. Their mieliepap is still highly popular today.
In Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, and Tswana cultures, most of the food depended on what was locally available. Easily cultivated staples were a mainstay, thanks to their ability to be stretched to feed large families. Maize, rice, and potatoes can be seen everywhere in South African dishes thanks to the various cultures enjoying them. Traditionally, the meat came from their livestock, and it was used wisely. Parts of the animal that would spoil first were eaten first, with longer-lasting cuts of meat saved for later.
From biltong to potjie to braai, many of our meals come from nomadic traditions, and our favourite dishes are thanks to a wide variety of cultures. Give it a think next time you enjoy one of South Africa’s signature dishes. It is definitely something worth chewing on.
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