Food & Home Entertaining

unsung
the
Laurette Meiring
BY ANNA TRAPIDO PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANNALIZE NEL
Culinary and agricultural patriotism
is the name of the gourmet game for
Laurette and Phillip Meiring. Their
Rustenburg shop is a treasure trove
of traditional seeds...
WE SELL ALL SORTS OF SOUTH
AFRICAN HERITAGE SEEDS.
We have all the traditional favourites, but
our best-sellers are dinawa beans (often
called cowpeas), letlhodi (mung beans)
and, especially, our wholegrain white- and
red mabele (sorghum).
MOST OF OUR CUSTOMERS STILL
BUY OUR SEEDS TO PLANT AND
GROW THEMSELVES.
With the peas, my customers tell me
they are buying the seeds in order to
grow the leaves. Most people say they
cook them as a morogo side vegetable
but, occasionally, a younger person
says they use the leaves in salads and
soups too.
OTHER PEOPLE COOK WITH THE
SEEDS JUST AS WE SELL THEM.
It used to be that our products went
only to farmers and home gardeners,
but our seeds are increasingly popular
withcaterersandchefstoo–more
young people are interested in heritage
food,sowesellalotofproductsto
professional cooks making classic
Africancuisineforweddingsandthelike.
RECENTLY,WEHAVESTARTED
TO SEE A LOT MORE HEALTH
PROFESSIONALS IN THE SHOP.
There seems to be a new interest in the
nutritional beneits of traditional African
foods. Increasing numbers of doctors
and dieticians are coming in themselves
as well as referring patients.
NW SAAD & GAS; 105 PRESIDENT
MBEKI DRIVE, RUSTENBURG, NORTH
WEST PROVINCE; 014-597-1841;
NWSAAD@TELKOMSA.NET
26 JUNE 2016