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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South African Culinary Heritage
With reflection, I can now understand where my dearest
sister, Monki, was coming from. And I think that this might
also have made God sad, as well; that He had created me
and given me all these beautiful talents and creativity; and
that, in turn, I was throwing all of it in His face; recklessly
focusing on, and being consumed by another being.
And this had nothing to do with me loving my husband or
being committed to the institution of marriage. It was just
an emotional entanglement; a mishmash that had been
brought about by a marriage full of immorality. Being afraid
to confront reality had cost me dearly!
More than losing the business, it had also come just short
of leading to me losing my own soul! This great loss had
come to the point of forcing me to make drastic changes in
how I could handle reality and the truth, onwards. And, as
you read this, I am painstakingly putting all the necessary
mechanisms in place, addressing problems for what these
really are. I no longer shy away from tackling disquieting
concerns; thus echoing the saying;
“If you do not deal with what is going on, it will keep coming back to
you.”
I now have a broader perspective of things beyond myself,
not engaging in “Rabbit Chase” discussions. As a result, our
family and business meetings have ceased to be personalitybased
brawls and tournaments. There is now order in my
life. This time around, order is not maintained by control
and manipulation, except sincere expression of feelings and
thoughts. The benefits of working together, as a family, are
enormous. You have a common cause and you use your
strengths, as individuals, to benefit one another.
It is, and has been a great privilege for me to be surrounded
by, and to work with my family. I have been able to draw
from their strengths. However, the great challenge has been
seen whenever personal matters happened to overlapped
into the business. After much turbulence and great anguish,
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