Food24
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters
No Result
View All Result
Food24
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters
No Result
View All Result
Food24
No Result
View All Result

Celebrating my cultural identity through food and the lessons I learnt from my Xhosa grandmother

Food24
Sinikiwe Mbangi by Sinikiwe Mbangi
September 1, 2020
in Features
0
Celebrating my cultural identity through food and the lessons I learnt from my Xhosa grandmother
0
SHARES
7.7k
VIEWS
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsapp

Perhaps one of my fondest childhood memories is visiting my paternal grandmother, Gogo, at the homestead where my father grew up. Like all village homes in rural Eastern Cape, the matriarch’s “quarters” in the homestead was a rondavel (mud hut with a grass-thatched roof) which, much to my surprise, withstood all storms and strong winds.

Celebrating my cultural identity through food and the lessons I learnt from my Xhosa grandmother

It’s at that rondavel where I learnt the art of making food for a large family. By learning, I mean watching my grandmother making samp and beans on a big three-legged pot. My job was to fetch the water to add to the pot or make sure the fire didn’t die. Now, my job was no mean feat – have you ever tried to resuscitate a dying fire? And when I was on fire duty, those wretched flames always found a way to die an early death.

Because she was the mother to six boys, Gogo had mastered the art of always cooking for more than you need. According to her, her sons always brought friends home when they were young and even as adults, they would bring a colleague home as a way of boasting about their mom’s traditional Xhosa dishes — which consisted of ground maize mixed with spinach called umfino; ground maize with pumpkin called umqa; and, of course, samp and beans. A matter of pride for Gogo was that all the ingredients for her dishes came from her garden.

Meat for her was a delicacy enjoyed on special days, and for a fierce Christian like her, there’s no better day befitting a good roast chicken on a brazier than a Sunday. And even that chicken didn’t come from the store – as kids, we would enjoy chasing the one she picked out from her chicken coop, chosen because of its weight amongst its peers. Her rule was that the fat one dies. It always amazed me how fast our dinner would run – its weight never seemed to hold it back. Eventually, we would catch it – and by “we” I mean my cousins because I was scared of live chickens. Gogo would tease how ironic it is that I’m scared of chasing the chicken but not of eating a drumstick. I could have retorted with a snide comment, but I wouldn’t live to tell the tale. Black mothers are notorious for saying: “I brought you into this world, I’m not scared to take you out.”

Celebrating my cultural identity through food and the lessons I learnt from my Xhosa grandmotherXhosa grandmothers will wait for you to finish eating then “take you out” to meet your maker on a full stomach. The punishment for anyone who dared cross her was making vetkoek for Monday’s lunchbox for all the grandkids that chose to stay with her for the bottomless sorghum drinking porridge that awaited them in the morning. And, yes, the sorghum wheat came from her garden.

Up to this day, I feel incomplete visiting Gogo’s place without a drink of her sorghum porridge. That loud-mouthed sassy babe filled her days with nourishing our bodies and souls with her cooking, and she’s the reason I gain weight every time I make the great trek to the Eastern Cape rural home. Okay, that’s a lie – I’m the reason, but she’s partly to blame.

Tags: FeaturesFood


Related Posts

10-grocery-finds
Featured

10 new products we’ve discovered while grocery shopping

September 27, 2023
Peppermint-crisp-cheesecake
Features

We asked, you answered: What is SA’s favourite dessert?

September 20, 2023
kosher-salt-vs-other-salt-varieties
Cooking Guides and Tips

Seasoning smarts: Kosher salt vs other salt varieties

September 18, 2023
Next Post
family cooking

Share your food heritage story and get featured on Food24

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Food24 Team Loves

10-grocery-finds

10 new products we’ve discovered while grocery shopping

September 27, 2023
Peppermint-crisp-cheesecake

We asked, you answered: What is SA’s favourite dessert?

September 20, 2023
best-south-african-chutney-brands

Fruit chutney showdown: 8 store-bought picks put to the test

September 8, 2023
fondue charcuterie

5 ideas for the perfect winter-friendly charcuterie board

August 14, 2023
roasted-potato-and-tomato-soup

Food24 shares our memories from the ‘soup-er women’ in our lives

August 9, 2023

Recent favourites

  • layered cake

    Woolworths launches new cake slice range – and Checkers responds in the best way!

    2 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Peppermint Crisp pudding: Homemade vs store-bought

    19 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Food24’s top garlic butter baguette revealed

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 10 braai recipes to celebrate South Africa

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 6 different braai marinades for lamb that you need to try

    14 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get weekly access to our best recipes, tips and tricks

Sign Up
Footer

Quick links

  • Home
  • News
  • Videos
  • Win

Collections

  • New Recipes
  • Festive
  • Baking
  • Dessert Recipes
  • Braai Recipes
  • Lunchbox
  • South African Recipes
  • Pasta Recipes

Other links

  • Advertise with Food24
  • Editorial Policy
  • How to Pitch
  • Contact us

Not in the mood to cook?

Visit eatout.co.za to find the perfect restaurant near you.

eatout.co.za

© 2020 Food24.com. All rights reserved.

  • About us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • New Media
IAB
No Result
View All Result
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters

© 2019 Food24.com. All rights reserved.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Fill the forms below to register

Subscribe to Newsletter

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Close
Food24
Recipe Disclaimer

All recipe content is the responsibility of the party from whom such content originated. You agree that you use the content on Food24 at your own risk. Please read our editorial policy.
Close
Food24
Get the latest recipes delivered to your inbox weekly
Promotional Newsletter

Be the first to receive information about competitions and special offers from Food24 and it's partners.

You have successfully been subscribed!
Something went wrong. Please try again.
Make sure you have completed all required fields.
I don't want to see this again