A few weeks ago, I was comparing notes (online ofcourse) with a friend of mine on what we will be having for Christmas lunch. Christmas is all about food these days, a far cry from the days when it was about Nativity plays, dressing up in masks and going from house to house asking for a ‘Christmas box’. These days it’s a family affair, family wakes up and each person has their specialty dish that they make. This has changed at my home though, my brothers wake and cure their hangover (a three day hangover build up), my mom goes to church and I slave away in the kitchen. Nothing elaborate, just good food.
The question I have regarding Christmas is this: Is there anything wrong with African people cooking European food during Christmas? Am I just some darkie that is too fixated with race and all things African?
I still get shocked when I see black people buying gammon and massive, chemical laden turkeys during Christmas. It’s not your culture, I say to myself. What then should they be eating?
I like Christmas lunches that have those Africanized dishes. For the uninitiated, these are Western dishes that are cooked in an African way. Top of this list is rice, with turmeric and raisins. It’s a must have at Sunday lunches and functions. Next up are salads: potato salad which has tinned peas. Then the beetroot. No fancy vinegar, just plain vinegar. Cabbage, that is stir fried with a curry powder. A bit of chakalaka to give it an African feel and last but not least, some meat. We love our meat! And roast potatoes.
That is what I think Christmas food should be for black people. Wake up in the morning with some tripe and steamed bread, or fresh liver. Then while the guys sip some traditional beer, the ladies prepare a meal. Dessert should be include trifle, jelly and custard (not runny like the one you get in restaurants, but cold and stiff) and that can of mixed fruit, the one with soggy pineapple and some sweet syrup. And if you can still get it, some chocolate pudding. Cold.
Notice the absence of a starter? We don’t do starters, we go for the kill!
As is customary, some braaied meat to round the whole thing off, and start the drinking session. For the teetotalers, home made ginger beer.
Maybe I am saying this because my home town doesn’t have shops that stock up the gourmet stuff like turkey, Peking duck, gammon, panetonne and French champagne
The question I have regarding Christmas is this: Is there anything wrong with African people cooking European food during Christmas? Am I just some darkie that is too fixated with race and all things African?
I still get shocked when I see black people buying gammon and massive, chemical laden turkeys during Christmas. It’s not your culture, I say to myself. What then should they be eating?
I like Christmas lunches that have those Africanized dishes. For the uninitiated, these are Western dishes that are cooked in an African way. Top of this list is rice, with turmeric and raisins. It’s a must have at Sunday lunches and functions. Next up are salads: potato salad which has tinned peas. Then the beetroot. No fancy vinegar, just plain vinegar. Cabbage, that is stir fried with a curry powder. A bit of chakalaka to give it an African feel and last but not least, some meat. We love our meat! And roast potatoes.
That is what I think Christmas food should be for black people. Wake up in the morning with some tripe and steamed bread, or fresh liver. Then while the guys sip some traditional beer, the ladies prepare a meal. Dessert should be include trifle, jelly and custard (not runny like the one you get in restaurants, but cold and stiff) and that can of mixed fruit, the one with soggy pineapple and some sweet syrup. And if you can still get it, some chocolate pudding. Cold.
Notice the absence of a starter? We don’t do starters, we go for the kill!
As is customary, some braaied meat to round the whole thing off, and start the drinking session. For the teetotalers, home made ginger beer.
Maybe I am saying this because my home town doesn’t have shops that stock up the gourmet stuff like turkey, Peking duck, gammon, panetonne and French champagne
6 comments:
African Christmas? Really?
So we are exploring "traditional/native ways of celebrating western religious holidays?" Hmmmm a bit oxymorony to me. And masks when asking for a Christmas box? Christmas box or guy fox box? I get confused. What I can say about the Christmas I know in the traditional sense is back in the day (the way its been told to me by my dad who grew up in Gatyani, Ntsimbakazi, Transkei) is : Christmas is the time of year that the men would come back from work in the big towns and this often afforded people (women and children) luxuries that they were not used to indulging in the whole year through. So instead of just the staple samp they would have rice for a few days and this would be accompanied by slaughtering of a sheep and whatever...hence the tripe and other traditional stuff. So if we look at ourselves now ...... a lot has changed. There's nothing wrong with going back to Gatyani and slaughtering an animal to celebrate the family coming together once a year....you become the uncle from the big city, with bright lights, that brings the sheep. No ribbon wrapped Christmas presies there.... but some people dont have a Gatyani to go to : all that awaits them is a semi-demolished used to be rondaville and a wilted twig that used to be a cross where the grandfathers grave site used to be, when they still buried in the yard. So if your home is Mams, Zwide or Elalini ebomvu or Diepkloof extension and you feel that the luxuries that you only get to relish once a year is in the form of a bird ,as opposed to lamb you get deboned at SPAR every monday, then honestly in the spirit of Christmas and what it represents to different people : there should be no prescription based on pigmentation. Tradition is one thing but lets understand the reasons people 100 years ago did things in a certain way rather than following blindly for the sake of not loosing our roots. Our roots are solid .... turkey changes nothing. You could find those very families being more traditional the other times of the year than the feasters of curdled castard. As for the women cooking, while the men have sogum beer .... the NCA took care of that :)
He he he he he.........
Jesus was black afterall so, Christmas must have been an African invetion. Stolen and then resold to us by the Europeans like our coffee.
I agree with you though, Christmas has evolved a lot. But I think for people working in the economic centres of the country, it should also provide us with an opportunity to reconnect with our roots, and not gloat at our rural cousins with our new culinary delights.
I made some bobotie over Christmas and it got a mixed reaction. Mom enjoyed it, but the guy helping in the garden couldnt understand mixing mince, eggs and raisins.
We used to go from house to house back in the day, and say to people,"Can we please have a Christmas box?" Dont ask me where that came from.
Food should symbolise something, not just a mean that you eat.
Im siding with the man that works in the garden.
Try bobotie.....
A panty dropper dish I tell you. Not dropping the panty because of a runny tummy :)
Okay guys... stuff the beetroot and curried cabbage. I'll say I must have been a fortunate bugger coz I don't remember having a christmas lunch were they served such somber meals, displaying a very poor art of cooking. We had a mixture of the "western and the african" meals. The slaughtered sheep,umleqqwa, McCain mixed veggies, before McCain we had "Harvest". We also had gourmet pasta with bacon, white souce, mushrooms n stuff. Cooked the best way my mom and aunts could, and they are damn good cooks too!!! For dessert, milk tarts and yes at times, the canned fruit with Ultra Mel Custard and vanilla ice cream. We had turkey and my aunts house, myt mom never bouthg o r cooked turkey, hence I don't see why we sheould. It is an american way of celebrating xmas. So who say's its a black persons tradition to have the beetroot (that turns you whole meal red) and lousy dessert... its not tradition my friend, Perhaps we should define the term "tradition"
I prefer to call betroot and the lousy dessrts Africanized dishes, and not traditional African foods.
Traditional would be iinkobe, umleqwa, umqa, etc.
Beetroot is a must have, tooth stainer or not. I love that stuff, but prefer doing it the nouvelle cuisine way with some blue cheese and rice wine vinegar. Delish! Dont boil it, roast it.
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