A Soweto Street Food Safari
The best way to experience a culture is to eat your way through it. With this in mind, Jabulile Ngwenya recently introduced some foreign friends to the joys of South African street food – with mixed results!
I stood in front of the long, heavily laden table, smiling nervously at the vendors jockeying for my attention. After a leisurely stroll through the marketplace, bargaining for sandals, lamps and handmade soaps, I decided the food stall had to be part of my Thai experience. The market was vibrant, loud and felt familiar. However, instead of roasted green mealies, boerewors rolls, roast chicken meat and braaied sheep’s head, I encountered pork satay on skewers, deep fried chicken and fishcakes, Chinese doughnuts and mussels fried in egg batter.
“Buy here, buy here!” a voice called out, thrusting skewered meat in my face. A small woman with unruly black hair came from behind the counter to lead me to her stall, where she handed me a skewer covered with a dark brown mass. While she was nodding her head encouragingly, I took a tentative bite. Crunchy, salty, a little sweet, but definitely delicious.
On my return to South Africa, where street food – its nuances, textures and delicious succour – is so familiar to me, I posed a challenge to my best friend that the next time we hosted foreign guests, instead of a restaurant, we would take them on a township culinary tour. After all, what better way is there to immerse yourself fully in the culture of a nation than through its cuisine?
While many tourists like to play it safe, street food is tasty and authentic, and buying from local vendors ploughs money back into the economy. It is estimated that as much as 40% of all food in the developing world is sold by these vendors. Street food is a variation of fast food, although it offers variety and a diversity of ingredients and preparation methods.
South Africa is noted for its cultural diversity, which is also reflected in its street food. On the roadside you can buy practically anything, wherever you see a makeshift stall and a colourful sign.
Probably the most famous street food is the bunny chow. The original is a half or full loaf of hollowed out bread stuffed with curry. This was developed by working class Indians in Durban. It is an “everyman” dish that is delicious and messy. The most common township variation is the kota, which is filled with hot chips, fried polony, cheese and a Russian sausage – fabulous, unless you have a cholesterol problem.
Another heart stopping staple is vetkoek, a savoury doughnut-type roll that can be eaten as is, or stuffed with meat, cheese or relish. Then there is the more interesting stuff: amanqina, which is boiled and spiced cow, pig or sheep hooves; mala, which is chicken intestines that are first boiled, then fried; maotwana or walkie-talkies, which are cleaned and salted chicken feet that are boiled and then fried; umngqusho (samp and beans); mogodu, which is boiled tripe normally served with samp and beans; and skop, a delicious township staple of braised cow, sheep or goat head, eaten on the bone.
We were soon put to the challenge when South African born Amanda, who is married to an American, and her two teenage daughters, Sidney and Taylor, came to our shores. They had heard of Soweto and were up for a tour of its finest culinary offerings.
Our first stop was with Sfiso Zondo, who boils cow heads under a pedestrian bridge at the Baragwanath taxi rank. The meat was brought from two cauldrons to a stainless steel table dotted with heaps of salt and peri-peri sauce. Amanda was game, but the girls professed an instant conversion to vegetarianism, despite previously pronouncing themselves avid meat eaters.
Kliptown was our next stop to taste the vetkoek made by Elton and Justine Mhlapo, who get up at three every morning to make the dough. “This is delicious,” Taylor professed. “Crisp on the outside and soft inside. I want another one.”
Then it was on to Dimpho Phurop for a kota. Again the verdict was an adjective laden affirmation, with Sidney stating it was the best French fries she’d ever had. In my notebook I recorded a renunciation of vegetarianism as the polony and Russian sausage were devoured with relish.
But the vegetarianism came back soon after when they were offered walkie-talkies by Refiloe Pule. “I don’t think I can,” Sidney cried, her face contorted in curious fascination. They were meat eaters again, though, with the boerewors on Vilakazi Street, but went right back to being vegetarians when presented with mogodu in Orlando.
It would be easy to laugh at Western sensitivities to delicacies of other cultures, and I did guffaw loudly at times. But as we were driving back, they all said it was the best day they had ever had in South Africa. “I loved the instant conversion to vegetarianism,” laughed Amanda as we drove out of the township. Indeed, a few days later, she sent a message saying: “The pictures are already up on the girls’ Facebook pages. What a fantastic experience.”
So the next time you have overseas visitors to stay, don’t take them to a five-star restaurant in the suburbs, but rather treat them to a truly authentic local experience.
Story & Pix © Jabulile Bongiwe Ngwenya
Cali Doby commented:
Really enjoyed this post.Thanks Again. Cool.