SC - Re: African foods (references, history + OOP recipe)
Christina van Tets
IVANTETS at botzoo.uct.ac.za
Mon Mar 1 14:50:44 PST 1999
Greetings the list,
Just a quick reply to Phlip's reply to Cairistiona's post.
The Abyssinian source she mentioned was a diary I found while
researching an historical article on SCA-period Abyssinia (available
in the culture section of Stefan's florilegium). Fr. Alvarez, the
chaplain to the Portuguese embassy to the Abyssinians in 1527 kept
and later published a detailed diary in which he discusses everything
from differences in Abyssinian and Portuguese wrestling techniques to
the merits of Ethiopian honey wine (He strongly approved of the
latter but had misgivings about the Abyssinian approach to the
former).
Versions of Alvarez's diary are available in every western
european language, including Basque and Catalan. Unfortunately, the
good father was far more interested in alcoholic beverages than food.
His feast descriptions, cover the wine and entertainments at length
but the meal (if described at all) is often covered in one or two
sentences.
If you are interested in 16th century cooking in sub-saharan
Africa, do not despair. The Portuguese were enthusiastic diarists
and not all of them were wine-bores. Many of these
diaries have been translated into other European languages (most
often Spanish but English, French and Italian translations are also
common). If there is a nearby University with an interest in
African studies, they are likely to have copies in their library.
16th century Portuguese diarists are likely to cover three main
regions, Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in the East, Kongo (modern day Northern
Angola) in the west, and the Mozambique/Zambezi valley region in the
south east. There are also diaries available from shipwreck victims
who lived in South Africa with various Nguni and Sotho groups.
Of these, accounts from Kongo are likely to be the most
reliable and most interesting. Kongo was a large and influential
kingdom whose king converted to Christianity late in the 15th
century. Under King Afonso (1507-1543, a.k.a. maniKongo Nzinga
Mbemba) it enjoyed an impressive renaissance with the assistance of
Portugal. Portuguese masons, carpenters and other skilled artisans
were sent to Kongo in the 16th century and young baKongo noblemen
travelled to Portugal to recieve an education. In the 17th
century it all went horribly wrong and the Kongo kingdom was
utterly destroyed. However, during the 100 years of more or less
friendly close cultural contact, someone must have scribbled a few
notes about his dinner.
For those of you who might be interested, the best English-
language starting point is:
Anne Hilton (1985) "The kingdom of Kongo"
RECIPE:
After all the African history, I thought I better throw in at
least one recipe. So without further ado, here is THE recipe of
southern Africa - mealie pap. (WARNING: maize was introduced
into Africa from the new world in the 16th century. Your 12th
century Abyssinian persona did not eat mealie pap.)
To 2 cups boiling water add 3/4 cup maize flour. Stir the
mixture while it simmers until it reaches the consistency of mashed
potatoes. Serve and eat. (this quantity provides the starch dish
for a meal for two people)
Most southern Africans eat pap (or its local equivalent, there
are slight regional variations) with some form of stew, usually
cooked in a potjie (Dutch oven). The only exception that I have seen
has been the pap and boerewors <traditional SA farm sausage>
combination favoured by overweight, middle-aged, male rugby fans.
If anyone's interested, I'll get Cairsitiona to dig out some more
interesting African recipes and post them through. Although, as she
has mentioned there are others on the list with more expertise than
us. Perhaps, the wise and beautiful Melisant could be induced to
share some late period recipes from the legendary lands of
the Monomatapa with the members of the list (sadza and falcon stew
perhaps?) or the fair and abstemious Meriel of the marsh, some of her
culinary delights from ancient Kaffraria?
Happy cooking,
Jan van Seist.
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