sOUTH Africa

Traditional Foods of South Africa
In South Africa you can find just about any food you wish for. In just one street in a town in South Africa you can find Italian, Moroccan, Chinese, Portuguese and Indian food, amongst others. You can even have anything from a hamburger to sushi.

South African traditional foods however include things such as crocodile sirloin, fried caterpillars and even sheep heads. Some South Africans might even shake their heads at this selection, but others eat this way every day. With South Africa having so many different cultures and beliefs, you will also find that certain foods are eaten for certain occasions.

There are those South African foods which are to the taste bud of many a tourist, or even South African, much less daring than snake meat. Things such as biltong, which is dried and salted meat, may not sound appealing but may also be rather addictive! In South Africa it seems a rugby match cannot be watched without it, and no South African would venture on a road trip without it either. You can try babotie, which is a much-improved (Malay) version of Shepard's pie. Or you could try a traditional South African braai (BBQ) with boerewors (hand-made farm sausage).

Maize has been the basis of African cuisine for many years and each community, be it Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, or Xhosa, has a different preference for eating it, although some dishes or meals have approval by most of them.

Although these 'speciality' dishes are somewhat harder to find in South Africa, the best idea is to find a friend and go home with them for mom's cooking or dad's braai, as nothing can beat good South African home cooking!

It must be said that it was in the search for food that shaped modern South Africa. The need for refreshment compelled the Dutch East India Company to plant a farm at the tip of Africa. The company was drawn by spices to Java during the mid 1600s and needed a half-way refreshment stop for its ships.

Since then history has played a huge role in South African foods, with all those settling here or just passing through having an impact on the cuisine. Today the rainbow which symbolises the country (by the national flag also) does not only refer to the food, but also the extraordinary range of cuisines.

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