Official African Food Thread

Red Leg · May 10, 2020

So have any of you had the courage to try real African food? Cornmeal mush with bits of nearly rotting meat or fish? Another one that caught my attention was Nyala kidneys fried in fresh spleen squeezings. Four day dead equatorial unrefrigerated buffalo bull slices slowly smoked over a green wood fire (makes more smoke to run off the maggots) will also catch one's attention.

CBH Australia · May 10, 2020

Correction, bloody auto correct It is still a Jaffle Iron. Just tried to predictive text me again.
The electric version may be a sandwich press or similar from a appliance store or Walmart .
That’s if 110 volt will run it,

Aaron N · May 10, 2020

Red Leg said:
So have any of you had the courage to try real African food? Cornmeal mush with bits of nearly rotting meat or fish? Another one that caught my attention was Nyala kidneys fried in fresh spleen squeezings. Four day dead equatorial unrefrigerated buffalo bull slices slowly smoked over a green wood fire (makes more smoke to run off the maggots) will also catch one's attention.

I’m sure the vast majority of Africans would envy the meals in front of us while in camp!

But personally, I will never understand papayas oN the dinner plate!

CBH Australia · May 10, 2020

Red Leg said:
So have any of you had the courage to try real African food? Cornmeal mush with bits of nearly rotting meat or fish? Another one that caught my attention was Nyala kidneys fried in fresh spleen squeezings. Four day dead equatorial unrefrigerated buffalo bull slices slowly smoked over a green wood fire (makes more smoke to run off the maggots) will also catch one's attention.

Are you referring to your time in survival school of your military career?
You have better tastes than that surely. Secondly would you pay for the experience?
Those do no to sound appealing.

Aaron N · May 10, 2020

Mort Hill said:
I can for the life of me not remember the official African name for this device, so help is appreciated. It was basically a round clamshell device with two long handles on each side. You place a couple of pieces of fresh bread in each half, then the filling, close, and cook over the fire. For breakfast, it would be eggs and meat, maybe some cheese. For lunch, maybe meat and vegetables or ham and cheese, or for a snack or dessert maybe a fruit filling. I bet I ate 50 of these on a two week safari in Tanzania and never got tired of them. Always planned to buy the little device, but alas, just great intentions.

I find it funny that you associate those with Africa! They were a staple while camping as a kid, with E.D. Smith cherry pie filling between two slices of bread!

Red Leg · May 10, 2020

CBH Australia said:
Are you referring to your time in survival school of your military career?
You have better tastes than that surely. Secondly would you pay for the experience?
Those do no to sound appealing.

Nope. I am talking about what the average rural African sees in his bowl every evening. It is one of the added experiences of hunting a wilderness area rather than a ranch in the RSA.

sureshot375 · May 10, 2020

Ryan said:
Yes. Namibia definitely has German and then English and Dutch influences from South Africa. South Africa less German but more Dutch and English. And I have a friend who works in Senegal and French influences appear to be very present there.

South African food has other influences also like Indian and Malaysian. I think Bobotie is a Malaysian dish.

CBH Australia · May 10, 2020

Red Leg said:
Nope. I am talking about what the average rural African sees in his bowl every evening. It is one of the added experiences of hunting a wilderness area rather than a ranch in the RSA.

I envy those who get the opportunity to hunt the wilderness areas i do not envy those who have to eat those offerings but it is a way of life and a staple. Something they are used too.
Many cultures bring their food to Australia and some still eat traditional foods at home. Some that would not be taken too by locals or not offered on menus but these people seem to likd them . Each to their own i am lucky to have been raised on western based foods and that is my normal and i am thankful for it.
Im not adventurous with foods and anything putrified would not appeal to me.

rinehart0050 · May 10, 2020

roverandbrew said:
One of our favs

We love those sandwiches!

Chukar · May 10, 2020

Red Leg said:
So have any of you had the courage to try real African food? Cornmeal mush with bits of nearly rotting meat or fish? Another one that caught my attention was Nyala kidneys fried in fresh spleen squeezings. Four day dead equatorial unrefrigerated buffalo bull slices slowly smoked over a green wood fire (makes more smoke to run off the maggots) will also catch one's attention.

Did you really eat those meals? (asking seriously). If so, my bowels salute you!!!!! Edit to view your previous reply...

About the most adventurous I have been is to order Mopane worms....

WAB · May 10, 2020

Red Leg said:
So have any of you had the courage to try real African food? Cornmeal mush with bits of nearly rotting meat or fish? Another one that caught my attention was Nyala kidneys fried in fresh spleen squeezings. Four day dead equatorial unrefrigerated buffalo bull slices slowly smoked over a green wood fire (makes more smoke to run off the maggots) will also catch one's attention.

Yep, I’ve spent months in east and west African slum areas. I’ve had some pretty challenging meals, particularly in Togo!

Red Leg · May 10, 2020

Chukar said:
Did you really eat those meals? (asking seriously). If so, my bowels salute you!!!!! Edit to view your previous reply...

About the most adventurous I have been is to order Mopane worms....

Oh hell no. I watched in mild horror. Particularly the rain of maggots from the buffalo.

K-man · May 10, 2020

I have been in camp eating a fine cut of steak when I found out the trackers/staff were trapping rats for consumption. Seems they had shared or overdone their meal allotment for the week. I took $10 US out of my pocket and told them to go back to the farm we had passed a couple km back and buy 2 chickens for them to eat. they practically ran back to buy them and proudly showed me the live chickens when they came back. I mostly did it for them but also for myself as I didn't want them cooking rat next to my food.

Chukar · May 10, 2020

Red Leg said:
Oh hell no. I watched in mild horror. Particularly the rain of maggots from the buffalo.

Gotcha. I'm not afraid of eating "exotic" but the rotting meat images does make the tummy churn.

BRICKBURN · May 10, 2020

@Red Leg I've done "pap" and smoked meat or biltong

.

No damned maggots though. That would cure my appetite on the spot.
Smoked baboon

Potjiekos with a run of popcorn

mdwest · May 10, 2020

Mort Hill said:
I can for the life of me not remember the official African name for this device, so help is appreciated. It was basically a round clamshell device with two long handles on each side. You place a couple of pieces of fresh bread in each half, then the filling, close, and cook over the fire. For breakfast, it would be eggs and meat, maybe some cheese. For lunch, maybe meat and vegetables or ham and cheese, or for a snack or dessert maybe a fruit filling. I bet I ate 50 of these on a two week safari in Tanzania and never got tired of them. Always planned to buy the little device, but alas, just great intentions.

Coleman makes one... $15...

https://www.target.com/p/coleman-camp-cooker/-/A-54100871?

Standard Velocity · May 11, 2020

I have a large cookbook collection. Time Life had a series called Foods of the World. The series is very dated for Western food and some ingredients have changed in quality and availability since publication making cooking from them more interpretive than modern cookbooks.

The series was well done as each volume was written by different people with meaningful knowledge of the culture they were writing about.

When I saw your post I dug out the volume on Africa.

I’ll look through it tomorrow when I have more time but if you see anything you’d like photos of I can post recipes and articles. The articles in the other volumes were often good.

sureshot375 · May 11, 2020

WAB said:
View attachment 347088We built a braai to do some proper African meals. It has become a weekly social event on the farm. We brought the racks and baskets back from Africa. Interestingly, lodge sells potjes. Proper ones with feet on the bottom and coal rims on the lid. Everything is cooked on coals. We have to make do with oak as mopane is in short supply in Bama.

Do you have any pictures of the construction? I assume the center is filled with dirt with a layer of concrete on top mounded up so the water sheds?

WAB · May 11, 2020

sureshot375 said:
Do you have any pictures of the construction? I assume the center is filled with dirt with a layer of concrete on top mounded up so the water sheds?

Ring wall construction beginning with a compacted ring of road base then gravel. Center filled with road base and then concrete poured on top. If you had access to thermal concrete for the top pour that would avoid some cracking. The top is sloped slightly to a gap in the stones on the top run to allow water to run out when it rains. 6 foot diameter, roughly knee high.

tigris115 · May 11, 2020

sureshot375 said:
South African food has other influences also like Indian and Malaysian. I think Bobotie is a Malaysian dish.

Well, any big country with a massive foreign diaspora is gonna adopt their cuisine. Americans did it with Mexican/Chinese, Brits with Indian, the French with Middle Eastern, etc.

Official African Food Thread

Red Leg

CBH Australia

Aaron N

CBH Australia

Aaron N

Red Leg

sureshot375

CBH Australia

rinehart0050

Chukar

WAB

Red Leg

K-man

Chukar

BRICKBURN

mdwest

Standard Velocity

sureshot375

WAB

tigris115

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