SOUTH AFRICAN CULINARY HERITAGE
The book South African Culinary Heritage by Eunice Rakhale, is about local food history and traditions interlaced with family conversations. It illustrates the culinary diversity of Southern African cuisine and some neighbouring countries, comparing the similarities and unique palatable heritages thereof. Written in a conversational style, the book is a handy culinary compilation which will bestow the reader with explorations regarding local African lifestyles history, art, clothing, music and perhaps even some song and dance. For tourists visiting these African countries – possessing a diversity of ethnic cultures, it is a worthy read regarding heritage and of-course African cuisine. A guide which should be included in any tourist’s travel pack and families. It is about a genuine story told with an extraordinary ability that draws parallel between the author’s struggle in the restaurant industry and in her personal life. Ultimately, her passion for food is where she finds solace to learn, heal and grow. Mother Daughter relationships can be extremely complex and Eunice is no exception. In the book, besides a plethora of authentic recipes and history, she shares candidly about her strained relationship with her daughter Mothei Makhetha. Being estranged for seven years, Mothei writes her mother a letter, in a desperate cry for help, which she hopes will begin the healing process. After receiving the letter, circumstances of her life took Eunice back home to her mother in Moletsane, Soweto. This happens while she is researching her culinary book authenticating the recipes through the help of her mother. This handing down of recipes from her mother gets them connected on a very deep level, thus, creating compassion and trust they never had. In desperation Eunice seeks counselling from her own mother to try and mend the relationship with her daughter. Their journey is one of true and sincere conversations handed down from one generation to another, around family meals and prayerful family meetings.
The book South African Culinary Heritage by Eunice Rakhale, is about local food history and traditions interlaced with family conversations. It illustrates the culinary diversity of Southern African cuisine and some neighbouring countries, comparing the similarities and unique palatable heritages thereof. Written in a conversational style, the book is a handy culinary compilation which will bestow the reader with explorations regarding local African lifestyles history, art, clothing, music and perhaps even some song and dance. For tourists visiting these African countries – possessing a diversity of ethnic cultures, it is a worthy read regarding heritage and of-course African cuisine. A guide which should be included in any tourist’s travel pack and families.
It is about a genuine story told with an extraordinary ability that draws parallel between the author’s struggle in the restaurant industry and in her personal life. Ultimately, her passion for food is where she finds solace to learn, heal and grow.
Mother Daughter relationships can be extremely complex and Eunice is no exception. In the book, besides a plethora of authentic recipes and history, she shares candidly about her strained relationship with her daughter Mothei Makhetha. Being estranged for seven years, Mothei writes her mother a letter, in a desperate cry for help, which she hopes will begin the healing process. After receiving the letter, circumstances of her life took Eunice back home to her mother in Moletsane, Soweto. This happens while she is researching her culinary book authenticating the recipes through the help of her mother. This handing down of recipes from her mother gets them connected on a very deep level, thus, creating compassion and trust they never had. In desperation Eunice seeks counselling from her own mother to try and mend the relationship with her daughter.
Their journey is one of true and sincere conversations handed down from one generation to another, around family meals and prayerful family meetings.
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
South African Culinary Heritage
brooms. She never even had a decent home as the second
wife. Yet, on the other hand, his perennially absent father
seemingly inspired and motivated my father to become a
devoted husband to my mother, and a doting father to us,
his children. The only thing that really had missed, glaringly,
in my family, were the regular, mirth-filled family meals.
We never ate together as a family!
It is regrettably my father’s legacy that had dominated the
running of his own home without practicing the tradition of
family dinners, and – tragically, by extension – no family
talks. This had incapacitated me, later in life, as I could not
talk, and had – for a long time – bottled up just too many
things, and deep-set feelings, many of which had later
manifested with outbursts, whenever I was angry. Like so
many families, mine did not equip and empower me with
communication skills. It is for this reason that I wrote the
book in a conversational style; to encourage families to talk
and use family meals as a platform to ventilate, celebrate
small and big feats, alike; and to plan, commiserate; and just
come closer, each time. However, the seed of family dinners
was firmly planted in my subconscious mind. As soon as I
started earning money of my own, starting with working as
a tea lady at an engineering company, the first item of
furniture I bought was a six-sitter dining table and four
garden chairs.
129
Change language