South African cuisine

South African cuisine draws from the culinary traditions of the various communities that inhabit the country. Among the indigenous peoples of South Africa, the Khoisan foraged over 300 species of edible food plants, such as the rooibos shrub legume, whose culinary value continues to influence South African cuisine. Subsequent encounters with Bantu pastoralists facilitated the emergence of cultivated crops and domestic cattle, which supplemented traditional Khoisan techniques of meat preservation. In addition, Bantu-speaking communities produced an extensive repertoire of ingredients and dishes, many of which are still consumed today in traditional settlements and urban entrepôts alike.

South African cuisine is heavily based on meat consumption. A widely observed culinary tradition is braai, a social event in which South Africans gather to cook meat over an open fire. A popular South African snack is biltong, an air dried, seasoned meat.

History

The San peoples were hunter-gatherers, who mostly depended on foods like tortoises, crayfish, coconuts, and squash. Agriculture was introduced to South Africa by the Bantu peoples, who continue in the cultivation of grain, starch fruit and root tubers — in the manner of maize, squash, and sweet potatoes, following their introduction in the Columbian exchange, displacing the production of many Old World food crops. Mabele (red sorghum) and madumbe (cocoyam, taro, or arrowroot) also continue to be widely cultivated.