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.
Eunice Rakhale-Molefe
chambers and then pull these apart. By now, you should
have the meat exposed. Use your fingers to extract the meat
and enjoy.
Use your knife to pull the meat out of the smaller chambers.
Pick away all the chunks of meat in the body. Start with the
claws. Crack the claws by using the hinged cracker, hitting
these with the crab mallet, or using your knife. For the most
efficient way to open a claw, lay down the sharp side of your
knife on the middle of the red side of the claw.
Then you should use the crab mallet to gently hit the knife,
until the knife is halfway through the claw. Finally, pivot the
knife to the side. That will open the claw and make it easier
to reach the meat. You can then snap the shell open and eat
the meat, avoiding the cartilage. Quite a performance.
An Anecdote
Portuguese dining is often full of drama. To illustrate this,
one related event comes to mind. The menu was a delightful
Portuguese one that has blended with Indian cuisine. On
offer was an option of curry, prepared either in a typical
Portuguese style or Indian style.
This particular patron had ordered Mozambican curry. This
was a regular patron we had inherited from the previous
owners of the restaurant. Once a month, without fail, he
comes for his dose of crab curry, washes it down with a
good bottle of Chardonnay and finishes off with a Crème
Brule. Always by himself.
On this occasion, halfway through the meal, we are
summoned to his table. It was with regards to the portion
size of the crab curry, it seemed to be small. He was basing
this on the fact that he did not feel full. The man says he
usually feels satisfied after his pot of crab curry, but not this
time! After a series of questions, to establish if he was
possibly more hungry than usual, he says, adamantly, “No,
the portion was too small.”
86
Change language