Page 17 - Cornwall 3 2021

ESTATE CULTURE

Traditional cuisine

is passed down

from one generation

to the next as

an expression of

cultural identity

Inset: Dolly Naidoo

Main picture, from L-R: Bongi hile many of us
associate food from
Shabalala, Helena Bothma, W W
Nnyambeni Golele and our childhood with
Tabitha Mautsa warm feelings and
memories that bind us
to our families, cooking
traditional food is also a way of preserving
our culture. However, the food does not
remain exactly the same. For example,
when people move to different regions or
countries, some ingredients for traditional
dishes may not be readily available, so
substitutes need to be made, and the taste
and flavour can be subtly different from the
original dish.

Food is associated with hospitality and
expressions of friendship. What we eat
and with whom we eat can inspire and
strengthen the bonds between individuals,
communities and even countries. We
should embrace our heritage through our
culture’s food, and we should strengthen
cross-cultural relationships by trying
other cultures’ foods. This is precisely
what resident Tabitha Mautsa facilitated
recently for a group of Cornwall Hill ladies
by organising a bring-‘n-share morning.
Everyone wore something culturally
appropriate, brought food and anecdotes
CORNWALL'S their culture in what was a wonderfully
and shared recipes representative of
celebratory morning.
Tabitha is an enthusiastic and excellent
CULTURAL author. She and her husband and their
cook and baker, and an aspiring cookbook
three children have lived in Cornwall Hill
Estate since 2004. Tabitha is from a Shona
family, originally from Zimbabwe, but her
KITCHENS country’s liberation struggle and thus she
parents were in exile in Zambia during the
was born in Zambia. She recalls that the
food the family ate in Zambia was similar
to what her parents grew up eating in
Zimbabwe, with the exception of some
vegetables and starches like cassava. Her
parents cultivated a vegetable garden
and kept chickens and she recalls always
BY NICOLE ZERWICK • IMAGES BY KARLA MULLER
having a patch of covo (kale) because her
mother loved beef with kale so they ate a
lot of that. We were treated to the dish and
I totally understand why her mom cooked
Cornwall View • Issue 3 2021 17