Our taste buds have been on quite the adventure the first ten days of our stay in South Africa. The colorful array of foods in this country is new to many of us, yet the interesting menu items have not intimidated students and many of us have tried several new dishes. From the start of our stay, we were eager to experience the culture of South Africa, and knew that encountering new foods would be part of this experience.
We have enjoyed group meals and have also had the opportunity of exploring new restaurants in small groups on certain nights. Our first group dinner in South Africa was at Mama Africa restaurant on our first night, which had an energetic atmosphere and excited us for our stay in Capetown. Marimba drums played by a live band sounded in the background as we enjoyed wild game such as springbok, ostrich, warthog, kudu, alligator and many other traditional African dishes prepared with fresh ingredients. The delicious meal brought us together, as we have learned food often does in South Africa. We sat together, shared laughs and stories, and met new friends as we enjoyed our meal collectively around the same table on day one.
Another very enjoyable meal with wonderful traditional African food was lunch at Lelapa restaurant, located in the Langa Township. Over twenty dishes were served buffet style, including fried chicken, rice, curried vegetables, sweet potatoes, pasta salad, among many others. We loaded our plates with the vibrant colored foods- yellows, reds, browns, oranges, and greens- and feasted on the beautiful meal that had been provided. The owner of Lelapa is an older woman who spoke very slowly and had us laughing at her clever thoughts and opinions about the Western ways of eating meals. She informed us that African tradition is to ‘eat when you are hungry’, and that having a set time each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner is not important. She stressed that time is not a large part of the African culture, and meals should not be designated for a certain part of each day. This lunch had a very family oriented feel, especially the buffet style way in which we took our plates out to gather our food and brought them back to the table to eat and enjoy another live marimba band. Some dishes were spicy, others sweet, some tangy, others more bland. The wide variety of textures and flavors, temperatures and aromas was wonderful and we left feeling very full after a heavy lunch.
Last Sunday we went for a late lunch at Mizoli’s meat market. We sat outside under tents and listened to music, as many locals and tourists did the same. Huge platters of sausage, chicken, lamb and steak were brought out as well as mashed rice and fresh vegetable salsa. However, no plates, forks or knives were provided. We were instructed to eat with our hands in order to get the full cultural experience. The meat was delicious and the laid back atmosphere was quite amusing and many students enjoyed this unique experience.
The food thus far on our trip has been interesting and has settled better with some of us than others. The South African attitude of sharing food is quite noticeable and we have learned much about the culture through experiencing these various restaurants and people, which we have encountered through our lunches and dinners in Capetown. We feel very fortunate to be able to have good food to enjoy and a warm meal on our plates every night, as we have also learned that this is not always the case for some people here in South Africa. After leaving a township where the people have so little, it is hard not to feel as though we are extremely blessed to share a nice meal at the end of the day.