Five Things to Eat Before I Die
September 3, 2006 at 2:30 PM
by Ashleigh
Brad says I need to stop being so smug ;)
This meme was inspired by The BBC poll "50 Things to Eat Before You Die". Melissa at The Traveller's Lunchbox then started a challenge to find a more authentic top 50.
So, five things to eat before I die.
- Kourambiedes like my gran used to make. Every Christmas without fail we had these. She made them with clarified butter or ghee and they were soft and smooth on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside. The combination of these with the feast of Christmas baking that Gran did makes me long for my childhood. I have searched for recipes for kourambiedes, but I can only find one that contains clarified butter. I know Gran wouldn't make them without the clarified butter, so I think the recipe I found that includes it is probably closest to what I remember as the original. In the meantime my mom is searching for her copy of Gran's recipe. I hope she finds it.
- Sweet preserved lemons on Lesvos. These Greek 'spoon-sweets' are amazing. What is it about eating food in it's own specific locality? I have an Elizabeth David book in which she says something along the lines of that you cannot ever reproduce the food you have a specific region at home. Everything tastes different, the air is different, the soil is different. I brought some preserved lemons back with my from Lesvos last time we were there. They tasted nothing like they did in the warm sun, stirred into greek yoghurt and drizzled with thick greek honey.
- Pheasant casserole a la my mom. This one is unlikely to ever occur on my menu again, but I can wish for it right? When I grew up we lived on a remote farm in the centre of Zimbabwe. My dad grew maize, and nothing quite likes to eat newly planted maize than pheasant. So some shooting was necessary to keep the crops growing, without too much damage from marauding birds. My mom made a pheasant casserole that was loosely based on a stroganoff or chicken a la king recipe. With the main difference being the cooking time. Pheasants in Africa are tough little birds and take ages to tenderise. We used to have this wonderfully rich casserole with white rice, mashed potatoes and vegetables. I just read that what we referred to as a 'pheasant' was more likely to be a 'francolin'.
- Mealiemeal porridge. Enriched with margarine, stirred over a low heat for twenty to thirty minutes until smooth and thick, allowed to cool enough to form a skin on the top, heaped with sugar and with milk carefully poured in around the edges so as not to disturb the melting sugar on top. The breakfast of the wealthier parts of Africa. Oh my!
- Cape Tomato Bredie. When I was pregnant with Sebastian and working at the University of Cape Town I loved this meal for lunch. Brad worked at the top of the hill and I worked at the bottom and in between our buildings was the Faculty of Education, and their cafeteria. It was a standard university cafeteria, selling snacks, hot chips, drinks etc, but every day they also had a meal of the day. Sometimes it was something mediocre but filling and sometimes it was tomato bredie. I could die happy after having a meal of tomato bredie. Rich lamb, tomatoes, onion, potatoes, cooked slowly for ages until the tomato thickens down and the meat is meltingly tender. Here's some more information about Cape Malay influence on cooking in Southern Africa.
You might have noticed that an overwhelming amount of the food I long for comes from Africa. I suppose we really can't escape the imprint of the past, especially when related to something as instinctive as food. I've enjoyed the cuisine of many places, and there are some very notable highlights in the Dutch kitchen and English kitchen, that I have enjoyed immensely, but nothing, for me, compares to the food of my youth.
This homesickness for food-of-the-past was compounded yesterday when I bought Rainbow Cuisine: A Culinary Journey Through South Africa.
Never, in all the time we have lived abroad has my longing for my own continent been so fierce. The photographs in this book are outstanding. I'll be testing the recipes out, starting with the South African version of ertwensoep, something we had often as children.
Comments
You did a great job, bringing back all these sweet memories. We visited Lesvos a couple of years ago, I can't believe I missed the spoon-sweets! We've been to Kenia once, I would love to go back and show my children. The sounds, the beautiful light, the smells and flavours...
I can understand being homesick. I miss England so much. And I can understand how different Africa is to anywhere else too, having been to Zimbabwe. It made such an impression on me and I was only there for a couple of months. {{{hugs}}}
I love Greek Shortbread too. Haven't had it for AGES.
I shall have to go back to Thailand to have my beloved Thai cuisine direct from source again, because yes it does taste better there.
Weird and memorable things fro my youth.
My mom's tomato jam,
My step gran's sweet mustard, and Angostaura Bitters flavoured Cakes,
Liquorice all sorts,
Home made christmas pudding with ice-cream, custard AND brandy butter!
My gran's chocolate squares and shortbread which she'd send to us every time my dad was in their town on business.
What amazing recipes and associations ... it's impossible for me to clearly imagine Africa, having never been there, but your writing is so evocative that I feel like I could almost picture the reality of being there if I only tried a little harder....
September 3, 2006 5:29 PM