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.
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Eunice Rakhale-Molefe
but the tour and presentation consumes them. As with any
destination, their home is governed by self-made rules and
regulations. Access is limited by boundaries; meaning that
guests are welcome, but provided they fulfil the
requirements of the house rules. In welcoming their guests,
they are short of mentioning the dress code, right of
admission and all the other house rules typical of a business
place. Their worth is in their passion; and, outside of these
things, they don’t really know who they are, but – still – like
typical Naked Emperors, they feel successful and secure.
DECLUTTERING
Over a cup of tea, one morning, I asked my mother what
she would like me to do for her in maximising my stay with
her (unbeknown to me, our stay was going to last more than
a year, the last year of her 84 years, I may add).
“I would like for you to arrange my home as beautifully as
you usually do with your places (home and businesses),” she
had said. Then, she had added, “Create a space for me that
will be enjoyed by everybody who walks into my home.”
Puzzled by the emphasis on the term, “everybody”, I had
asked her as to what she might have meant. “You see,
Eunice, in this house, the only people that are welcome and
made to feel at home are the people I go to church with,
and only people with that kind of spiritual moral high
ground. It has been like this for all my life, and I would like
to change that.”
She had explains further, “I would like for my neighbours
to also come in, and to feel welcome and enjoy a cup of tea;
and I would like for them to be served the way you serve
me. I would like for them to experience being waited upon;
and I would like to be able to give their children a cookie
when they turn up in my yard.” My mother had then
continued painting the picture of this type of a seemingly
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