Food & Home Entertaining – September 2019

tastes

OF HOME

A

ngola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini

(formerly Swaziland), Lesotho,

Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius,

Mozambique, Namibia, South

Africa and Zimbabwe comprise the

southernmost part of mainland and

island Africa. Typified by cities and

super-highways, as well as villages

and mud tracks, they also have forests that merge into

grasslands and deserts that become mountains, while

rivers flow into seas. The region’s human history is

equally layered as First Nation Bushman inhabitants were

subsequently joined by Bantu-speaking people migrating

from further north in Africa, then by European and Asian

settlers. As such, the resulting food cultures are infused

with a variety of influences and ancestry but, for every

point of difference, there is also

a striking similarity.

Across southern Africa, sorghum and millet were the original

indigenous grains. In the modern era, maize has become the

staple starch.

On mainland southern Africa, key cultural and community

events are often celebrated and/or commiserated, nose to

tail – from naming ceremonies to funerals – in beef. Whether

slow-cooked like Zimbabwe’s Ndebele-style amangqina (beef

trotters) and South Africa’s Xhosa umsila wenkomo (oxtail

stew) or speedily seared as steaks at an Afrikaner braai, beef

marks major collective moments. With cows comes dairy –

most commonly fermented and variously known as amasi

in South Africa, omaere in Namibia and madila in Botswana.

Chicken, which is also largely consumed across the region,

often appears as simpler street foods like Lesotho’s grilled

maotwana (chicken’s feet) and Mozambique’s frango Africano

(piri-piri chicken). The chilli-laden heat of piri-piri reappears

in Comorian poutou hot sauce, the palate-spiking perfection

that is Mauritian mazavaroo and South Africa’s Durban-style,

mother-in-law masalas.

While meat is ceremonially significant, there is a wise

South African Pedi proverb that states that “nama e a etela,

morogo ke wa ka mehla” (meat is a visitor, whereas wild

leaves are a daily food). Cape waterblommetjiebredie

meets Creole flavour relatives in Madagascan spiced

brède mafane leaves. The peppery tang of Zimbabwean

muriwo (leafy greens) is balanced by the rich, soothing

generosity of peanut butter, which also features in Malawian

mtedza stew and Angolan kitaba, as well as chilli pastes.

In these clusters of core ingredients, culinary techniques

and attitudes towards food, it is possible to identify a

regional taste profile. Until recently, these fine flavours

were found almost exclusively in a home-cooking

context. Now, modern chefs are reimagining the regional

gastronomic gems as restaurant cuisine. We catch

up with two southern African chefs at the forefront of

our food revolution to find out more about how they

are taking their food to new and greater heights.

Africa’s fine flavours are deliciously

diverse and epically ancient. Now,

a new generation of chefs are

offering innovative interpretations

of the continent’s fabulous food

genres. In this issue, the fourth of

a five-part series, we savour the

splendours of modern southern

African gastronomy

BY ANNA TRAPIDO

FOODANDHOME.CO.ZA SEPTEMBER 2019 31

CHEFS’ PROFILES PART 4