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
Bread is a significant menu detail. Following in the
footsteps of maize, bread is also a dough which can be used
for making dumpling, baked bread or steamed bread. Our
modern ovens originate from our grandparents’ ground
ovens, which later became mud ovens – a hole in the ground
with wires to hold the bread. Morocco with its communal
bakeries is a true reflection of the roots and importance of
bread to Africans. However, for steam cooking, it was the clay
pot, which, design-wise, was initially filled with water and
supported by sticks, and was later reinforced with wires. In
the different African countries, the African bread basket
usually has the following varieties:
Zambia’s mealie bread (another name for corn bread), is popular
all over Africa. Instead of cornmeal, the cornbread in Zambia
is made with fresh corn kernels; Chapattis’ – Popular in the
Congo and Kenya; Mupotohayi is Zimbabwe’s cornmeal bread,
and is also known as Chimodho; Nthochi is Malawian banana
bread. Nigerian bread, Agege, is named after a suburb in Lagos
State, and it is much loved for its dense texture and sweet
taste. Moroccan bread, known as Khobz, is also referred to as
flatbread, and is characterised by a round, flattish shape and a
slightly coarse texture. The crust is ideal for dipping and
scooping up tagines, salads and other spicy Moroccan dishes.
The crust is so preferred, in fact, that many Moroccans will
remove and discard the soft interior from thicker loaves of
this particular bread.
Africa’s fast food snack is Amagwinya – Fat Cakes.
Almost every southern African country has Amagwinya, a
traditional fast food snack. You buy these when you need
something that will kill the hunger pangs for a couple of
hours. A fat cake is basically fried bread or a type of fried
doughnut, fritter or flapjack, but without the fruit or other
choice fillings. The ingredients may differ, depending on
which country one may be coming from; but the cooking
method is the same, and Mali’s sweet fried bread is a good
example. In Malawi, you can buy pre-mixed Mandazi flour for
those who may be wishing to avoid the tedium and labour of
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