Everything about South African Cuisine totally explained
Cuisine of South Africa has had a variety of sources and stages:
Indigenous cookery
In the precolonial period indigenous cuisine was characterized by the use of a very wide range of fruits, nuts, bulbs, leaves and other products gathered from wild plants and by the hunting of wild game. The domestication of cattle in the region about two thousand years ago by
Khoisan groups enabled the use of
milk products and the availability of fresh meat on demand. However, during the colonial period the seizure of communal land in South Africa helped to restrict and discourage traditional
agriculture and wild harvesting, and reduced the extent of land available to
black people.
Decline of indigenous cookery
Urbanization from the nineteenth century onward, coupled with close control over agricultural production, led
black South Africans to rely more and more on comparatively expensive, industrially-processed foodstuffs like wheat flour, white rice, mealie (maize) meal and sugar. Often these foods were imported or processed by
white wholesalers, mills and factories. The consequence was to drastically restrict the range of ingredients and cooking styles used by indigenous cooks.
On the other hand, some imported food plants (maize, tomatoes) have expanded the dietary range of indigenous cooks. Of these maize is the most significant - it has been integrated to such an extent into the traditional diet that it's often assumed to be an indigenous plant.
Popular foods in modern South Africa are chicken, limes, garlic, ginger, chili, tomatoes, onions and many spices.
Settler cookery
South Africa was settled from the seventeenth century onwards by colonists from the
Netherlands,
Germany and
France, and later by arrivals from the
British Isles. These colonists brought European cookery styles with them.
Cape Dutch
Traditional cookery of South Africa is often referred to as "Cape Dutch"; this cuisine is characterized by the use of spices such as
nutmeg,
allspice and
hot peppers. The Cape Dutch cookery style owes at least as much to the cookery of the
slaves brought by the
Dutch East India Company to the Cape from
Bengal,
Java and
Malaysia as it does to the European styles of cookery imported by settlers, and this is reflected in the use of eastern spices and the names given to many of these dishes.
Indian cookery
Curry dishes are popular in South Africa among people of all ethnic origins; many dishes came to the country with the thousands of
Indian labourers brought to South Africa in the nineteenth century.
Restaurants and fast food outlets
South Africa can be said to have a real "eating out" culture. While there are some restaurants that specialize in traditional South African dishes or modern interpretations thereof, restaurants featuring other cuisines such as
Moroccan,
Chinese,
West African,
Congolese and
Japanese can be found in all of the major cities and many of the larger towns. In addition, there are also a large number of home-grown chain restaurants, such as
Spur and
Dulce Cafe.
There is also a proliferation of
fast food restaurants in South Africa. While there are some international players such as
McDonalds and
Kentucky Fried Chicken active in the country, they face stiff competition from local chains such as
Nando's and
Steers.
Many of the restaurant chains originating from South-Africa have also expanded successfully outside the borders of the country.
Typical South African foods and dishes
Amasi, sour milk.
Biltong, a salty dried meat (similar to jerky).
Bobotie, a dish of Malay descent, is like meatloaf with raisins and with baked egg on top, and is often served with yellow rice, sambals, coconut, banana slices, and chutney.
Boerewors, a sausage that's traditionally braaied (barbecued).
Bunny chow, curry stuffed into a hollowed-out loaf of bread.
Chutney, a sweet sauce made from fruit that's usually poured on meat, especially a local brand called Mrs Ball's Chutney.
Frikkadelle - meatballs.
Gesmoorde vis, salted cod with potatoes and tomatoes and sometimes served with apricot jam.
Hoenderpastei, chicken pie, traditional Afrikaans fare.
Isidudu, pumpkin pap.
Koeksisters come in two forms and are a sweet delicacy. Afrikaans koeksisters are twisted pastries, deep fried and heavily sweetened. Koeksisters found on the Cape Flats are sweet and spicy, shaped like large eggs, and deep-fried.
Mageu, a drink made from fermented mealie pap
Malva Pudding, a sweet spongy Apricot pudding of Dutch origin.
Mashonzha, made from the mopane worm.
Melktert (milk tart), a milk-based tart or dessert.
Melkkos (milk food), another milk-based dessert.
Mealie-bread, a sweet bread baked with sweetcorn.
Mielie-meal, one of the staple foods, often used in baking but predominantly cooked into pap or phutu.
Ostrich is an increasingly popular protein source as it has a low cholesterol content; it's either used in a stew or filleted and grilled.
Pampoenkoekies (pumpkin fritters), patatrolle (sweet potato rolls) and a further variety of baked goods where flour has been supplemented with or replaced by pumpkin or sweet potato.
Potbrood (pot bread), savoury bread baked over coals in cast-iron pots.
Potjiekos, a traditional African stew made with meat and vegetables and cooked over coals in cast-iron pots.
Rusks, a rectangular, hard, dry biscuit eaten after being dunked in tea or coffee; they're either home-baked or shop-bought (with the most popular brand being Ouma Rusks).
Samosa or samoosa, a savoury stuffed Indian pastry that's fried.
Smagwinya, fat cakes
Smoked or braai'ed snoek, a regional gamefish.
Sosaties, grilled marinated meat on a skewer.
Tomato bredie, a lamb and tomato stew.
Trotters and Beans, from the Cape, made from boiled pig's or sheep's trotters and onions and beans.
Umleqwa, a dish made with free-range chicken.
Umngqusho, a dish made from semolina and black-eyed peas.
Umphokoqo, an African salad made of maize meal
Umqombothi, a type of beer made from fermented wheat.
Umvubo, sour milk mixed with dry pap, commonly eaten by the Xhosa.
Vetkoek (fat cake), deep-fried dough balls, typically stuffed with meat or served with jam.
Waterblommetjie bredie (water flower stew), meat stewed with the flower of the Cape Pondweed.Further Information
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