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Eswatini

Eswatini, a small, landlocked monarchy in Southern Africa, is one of the world’s last absolute kingdoms, ruled by King Mswati III. Nestled between South Africa and Mozambique, its rolling hills and savannahs host wildlife and cultural festivals like the Umhlanga Reed Dance. Subsistence farming and sugar exports sustain its economy, though HIV/AIDS and poverty pose challenges. Eswatini’s Swazi traditions, crafts, and warm hospitality shine despite its modest size.

Eswatini

Featured Dishes from Eswatini

Isidudu

Isidudu

Isidudu is a soft porridge made from ground corn known as mealie meal. It is a common breakfast in Xhosa and Zulu households. It is served with sugar and milk. Some may prefer white/brown vinegar and sugar or butter/peanut butter and sugar etc. Sometimes the ground corn is fermented to have a sour taste.

Phala

Phala

Cornmeal porridge

Sishwala

Sishwala

Sugar bean and cornmeal porridge, serve with meat, vegetables

Sitfubi

Sitfubi

Cornmeal cooked with fresh milk

Amasi

Amasi

Amasi , emasi (in Swazi), maas (in Afrikaans), or mafi (in Sesotho), is a thick curdled sour fermented milk product that is sometimes compared to cottage cheese or plain yogurt but has a much stronger flavor. A staple food in pre-colonial times, it is now a popular snack in South Africa and Lesotho. Amasi is traditionally prepared by storing unpasteurised cow's milk in a calabash container (Xhosa: iselwa, Zulu: igula) or hide sack to allow it to ferment. A calabash is smoked, then milk from the cow is put in a skin bag or bucket, where it ferments for 1 - 5 days, and acquires a sharp acidic taste. The fermenting milk develops a watery substance called umlaza, 'whey'; the remainder is amasi. This thick liquid is mostly poured over mealie meal porridge called pap (Xhosa: umphokoqo). It is traditionally served in a clay pot and it can also be drunk.

Carling Black Label

Carling Black Label

Carling Black Label is a lager distributed by Carling Brewing Company. Although its original focus was on ale, Carling has brewed lager-style beers since the 1870s. In 1927, as part of a corporate re-branding under new president J. Innes Carling, the company renamed its Black & White Lager to Black Label. Three years later, Carling was purchased by Toronto business tycoon E. P. Taylor, who merged it into his Canadian Breweries Limited , which grew to be the world's largest brewing company. Under Taylor, Black Label was promoted as CBL's flagship brand and went on to become the first beer to be brewed on a mass international scale, becoming particularly popular in Commonwealth countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Emahewu

Emahewu

Thick beverage made from fermented maize porridge, may be flavored with fruit

Milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest solid food. Milk contains many nutrients, including calcium and protein, as well as lactose and saturated fat. Immune factors and immune-modulating components in milk contribute to milk immunity. Early-lactation milk, which is called colostrum, contains antibodies and immune-modulating components that strengthen the immune system against many diseases. The US CDC agency recommends that children over the age of 12 months (the minimum age to stop giving breast milk or formula) should have two servings of dairy (milk) products a day, and more than six billion people worldwide consume milk and milk products. As an agricultural product, dairy milk is collected from farm animals, mostly cattle. In 2011, dairy farms produced around 730 million tonnes (800 million short tons) of milk from 260 million dairy cows. India is the world's largest producer of milk and the leading exporter of skimmed milk powder. New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands are the largest exporters of milk products. Between 750 and 900 million people live in dairy-farming households.

Sibebe

Sibebe

Tjwala

Tjwala

Traditional cornmeal beer

Amanqina

Amanqina

Trotters (feet) from pig, cow, sheep, lamb, chicken

Amanqina wegusha

Amanqina wegusha

Grilled sheep trotters, serve with pap

Amathumbu nepapa

Amathumbu nepapa

Tripe, served with pap

Antelope

Antelope

The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do not form a monophyletic group, as some antelopes are more closely related to other bovid groups, such as bovines, goats, and sheep, than to other antelopes. A better definition, also known as the "true antelopes", includes only the genera Gazella, Nanger, Eudorcas, and Antilope. One North American mammal, the pronghorn or "pronghorn antelope", is colloquially referred to as the "American antelope", despite the fact that it belongs to a completely different family than the true Old-World antelopes; pronghorn are the sole extant member of an extinct prehistoric lineage that once included many unique species. Although antelope are sometimes referred to, and easily misidentified as, "deer" (cervids), true deer are only distant relatives of antelopes. While antelope are found in abundance in Africa, only one deer species is found on the continent—the Barbary red deer of Northern Africa. By comparison, numerous deer species are usually found in regions of the world with fewer or no antelope species present, such as throughout Southeast Asia, Europe and all of the Americas. This is likely due to competition over shared resources, as deer and antelope fill a virtually identical ecological niche in their respective habitats. Countries like India, however, have large populations of endemic deer and antelope, with the different species generally keeping to their own "niches" with minimal overlap.

Braai

Braai

Barbecue varies by the type of meat, sauce, rub, or other flavorings used, the point in barbecuing at which they are added, the role smoke plays, the equipment and fuel used, cooking temperature, and cooking time. The meat may be whole, ground , or processed into sausage or kebabs. The meat may be marinated or rubbed with spices before cooking, basted with a sauce or oil before, during or after cooking, or any combination of these.

Chicken gizzard

Chicken gizzard

The gizzard, also referred to as the ventriculus, gastric mill, and gigerium, is an organ found in the digestive tract of some animals, including archosaurs , earthworms, some gastropods, some fish, and some crustaceans. This specialized stomach constructed of thick muscular walls is used for grinding up food, often aided by particles of stone or grit. In certain insects and molluscs, the gizzard features chitinous plates or teeth. The word gizzard comes from the Middle English giser, which derives from a similar word in Old French gésier, which itself evolved from the Latin gigeria, meaning giblets. Birds swallow food and store it in their crop if necessary. Then the food passes into their glandular stomach, also called the proventriculus, which is also sometimes referred to as the true stomach. This is the secretory part of the stomach. Then the food passes into the gizzard (also known as the muscular stomach or ventriculus). The gizzard can grind the food with previously swallowed grit and pass it back to the true stomach, and vice versa. In layman's terms, the gizzard 'chews' the food for the bird because it does not have teeth to chew food the way humans and other mammals do.

Emahewu

Emahewu

Thick beverage made from fermented maize porridge, may be flavored with fruit

Emasi emabele

Emasi emabele

Ground sorghum mixed with sour milk

Emasi etinkhobe temmbila

Emasi etinkhobe temmbila

Ground corn with sour milk

Emasi lavutiwe

Emasi lavutiwe

Sour milk mixed with crumbled pap, cooked mealies or ground cooked sorghum

Impala

Impala

The impala or rooibok is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus Aepyceros, and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to Europeans by German zoologist Hinrich Lichtenstein in 1812. Two subspecies are recognised—the grassland-dwelling common impala (sometimes referred to as the Kenyan impala), and the larger and darker black-faced impala, which lives in slightly more arid, scrubland environments. The impala reaches 70–92 cm (28–36 in) at the shoulder and weighs 40–76 kg (88–168 lb). It features a glossy, reddish brown coat. The male's slender, lyre-shaped horns are 45–92 cm (18–36 in) long. Active mainly during the day, the impala may be gregarious or territorial depending upon the climate and geography. Three distinct social groups can be observed: the territorial males, bachelor herds and female herds. The impala is known for two characteristic leaps that constitute an anti-predator strategy. Browsers as well as grazers, impala feed on monocots, dicots, forbs, fruits and acacia pods (whenever available). An annual, three-week-long rut takes place toward the end of the wet season, typically in May. Rutting males fight over dominance, and the victorious male courts females in oestrus. Gestation lasts six to seven months, following which a single calf is born and immediately concealed in cover. Calves are suckled for four to six months; young males—forced out of the all-female groups—join bachelor herds, while females may stay back.

Incwancwa

Incwancwa

Fermented cornmeal porridge

Inyama

Inyama

Meat is animal tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and cattle, starting around 11,000 years ago. Since then, selective breeding has enabled farmers to produce meat with the qualities desired by producers and consumers.

Isidudu

Isidudu

Isidudu is a soft porridge made from ground corn known as mealie meal. It is a common breakfast in Xhosa and Zulu households. It is served with sugar and milk. Some may prefer white/brown vinegar and sugar or butter/peanut butter and sugar etc. Sometimes the ground corn is fermented to have a sour taste.

Lipalishi lemumbila lomusha

Lipalishi lemumbila lomusha

Corn porridge that includes the stem

Mazondo

Mazondo

A cow's trotters is the culinary term for the foot of cattle. The cuts are used in various dishes around the world, especially in Asian, African, French, and the Caribbean cuisine. Latin American cuisine also uses cow's trotters for several traditional dishes. Other than cattle, the trotters of other ungulates such as goat, sheep and pig might also be consumed and used in certain dish of some cuisines' tradition. Cow's trotters do not contain any muscles or meat; other than bones and toe hoof, it mainly consists of skin, tendons and cartilage. In cuisine, the trotters' cuts are mainly valued for its unique texture—a gelatinous rather chewy soft texture of its tendons and skin, and also a rich broth produced from its bones. Nevertheless, to acquire a pleasant soft texture, a prolonged time of cooking, or pressure cooker might be employed in the process, this will extract the gelatins out of the trotters into the soup.

Mealie

Mealie

Ugali, also known as posho, nsima, papa, pap, sadza, isitshwala, akume, amawe, ewokple, akple, and other names, is a type of corn meal made from maize or corn flour in several African countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Botswana and South Africa, and in West Africa by the Ewes of Togo, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria and Cote D'Ivoire. It is cooked in boiling water or milk until it reaches a stiff or firm dough-like consistency. In 2017, the dish was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, one of a few foods in the list. This dish is eaten widely across Africa, where it has different local names:

Ostrich

Ostrich

Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large areas of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living Avian Dinosaur, with adult common ostriches weighing anywhere between 63.5 and 145 kilograms and laying the largest eggs of any living land animal. With the ability to run at 97 km/h , they are the fastest bipedal animals on land second only to the cheetah. They are farmed worldwide, with significant industries in the Philippines and in Namibia. South Africa produces about 70% of global ostrich products, with the industry largely centered around the town of Oudtshoorn. Ostrich leather is a lucrative commodity, and the large feathers are used as plumes for the decoration of ceremonial headgear. Ostrich eggs and meat have been used by humans for millennia. Ostrich oil is another product that is made using ostrich fat.

Samp

Samp

Samp is a food made from dried corn kernels that have been pounded and chopped until broken, but not as finely ground as mealie-meal or mielie rice. The coating around the kernel loosens and is removed during the pounding and stamping process. It is eaten across South Africa and by the Lozi and Tonga people of Zambia with sugar and sour milk. It can also be served with gravy and various additives. It is cooked with beans in the Xhosa variant of umngqusho and sometimes eaten with chakalaka. It can also be served with beef, lamb, poultry and in stuffings. "Samp" is of Native American origin, coming from the Narragansett word "nasàump." New Englanders since early colonial times have referred to cornmeal mush or cereal as "samp."

Sidlwadlwa

Sidlwadlwa

Meat stew with vegetables, peanuts

Sidudu selitsanga

Sidudu selitsanga

Mashed pumpkin mixed with mealie meal and sugar, serve with beef stew, milk

Sidvudvu

Sidvudvu

Pumpkin and cornmeal porridge

Sidvwidvwi

Sidvwidvwi

Mealie meal porridge cooked in fresh full-cream milk

Singwangwa

Singwangwa

Leftover pap mixed with water and sugar

Sintjangabamu

Sintjangabamu

Mashed yams and peanuts

Siphuphe semabhontjisi

Siphuphe semabhontjisi

Mashed bean porridge

Siphuphe setindlubu

Siphuphe setindlubu

Thick porridge made with groundnuts (peanuts)

Sishibo senkhukhu

Sishibo senkhukhu

Stewed chicken and vegetables

Sishibo senkomo

Sishibo senkomo

Stewed beef and vegetables

Sishwala

Sishwala

Sugar bean and cornmeal porridge, serve with meat, vegetables

Sitfubi

Sitfubi

Cornmeal cooked with fresh milk

Sncwancwa

Sncwancwa

Sour fermented cornmeal porridge

Stewed meat

Stewed meat

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef, pork, venison, rabbit, lamb, poultry, sausages, and seafood. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, stock is also common. A small amount of red wine or other alcohol is sometimes added for flavour. Seasonings and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature , allowing flavours to mingle. Stewing is suitable for the least tender cuts of meat that become tender and juicy with the slow, moist heat method. This makes it popular for low-cost cooking. Cuts with a certain amount of marbling and gelatinous connective tissue give moist, juicy stews, while lean meat may easily become dry. Stews are thickened by reduction or with flour, either by coating pieces of meat with flour before searing or by using a roux or beurre manié, a dough consisting of equal parts fat and flour. Thickeners like cornstarch, potato starch, or arrowroot may also be used.

Stewed tripe

Stewed tripe

Tripe soup or tripe stew is a soup or stew made with tripe . It is widely considered to be a hangover remedy. The Turkish name işkembe çorbası, meaning "tripe soup", consists of işkembe ("stomach/tripe"), çorba ("soup"), and the possessive affix -i that links the two words. It came from Persian shekambe (شکمبه, "rumen") and shurba (شوربا, "soup"). Some South Slavic languages borrowed the dish name from Turkish: as škembe čorba (шкембе чорба) in Bulgarian and čkembe čorba (чкембе чорба) in Macedonian, as škembić (шкембић) in Serbian and Bosnian, and Çorbë in Albanian. Tripe chorba (Turkish: işkembe çorbası, Romanian: ciorbă de burtă, Bulgarian: шкембе чорба, romanized: škembe čorba, Macedonian: чкембе чорба, romanized: čkembe čorba) is a common dish in Balkan, Eastern European and Middle Eastern cuisines. It is widely (not universally) considered to be a hangover remedy.

Stewed vegetables

Stewed vegetables

African stewed vegetables often refer to dishes like efo riro, a Nigerian spinach stew made with leafy greens, tomatoes, and various spices, or peanut stews that include hearty ingredients like sweet potatoes and beans. These stews are flavorful and can be made vegetarian or with meat, depending on preference.

Tahragout

Tahragout

Stewed meat and vegetables, for example, goat

Tinkhobe

Tinkhobe

Boiled whole corn

Umbidvo wetintsanga

Umbidvo wetintsanga

Cooked pumpkin leaves mixed with groundnuts (peanuts)

Umfino namantongomane

Umfino namantongomane

Leafy greens cooked with groundnuts, serve with pap

Umngqusho

Umngqusho

Umngqusho is a South African dish based on samp and sugar beans, usually served with hard body chicken which is called umleqwa in isiXhosa. Traditionally a Xhosa staple meal, it has been adopted by other tribes in South Africa as their staple meal as well. This dish is a staple meal for most South African families, referred to as isitambu by the Zulu people and umngqusho by the Xhosa people. The Xhosa version, served with butter or fat, was apparently Nelson Mandela's favourite dish.

Wild game

Wild game

Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products , for recreation ("sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, though most are terrestrial mammals and birds. Fish caught non-commercially (recreational fishing) are also referred to as game fish. The range of animal species hunted by humans varies in different parts of the world. This is influenced by climate, faunal diversity, popular taste and locally accepted views about what can or cannot be legitimately hunted. Sometimes a distinction is also made between varieties and breeds of a particular animal, such as wild turkey and domestic turkey. The flesh of the animal, when butchered for consumption, is often described as having a "gamey" flavour. This difference in taste can be attributed to the natural diet of the animal, which usually results in a lower fat content compared to domestic farm-raised animals. In some countries, game is classified, including legal classifications with respect to licenses required, as either "small game" or "large game". A single small game licence may cover all small game species and be subject to yearly bag limits. Large game are often subject to individual licensing where a separate permit is required for each individual animal taken (tags).

Beans and rice

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Beans and rice

Rice and beans, or beans and rice, is a category of dishes from many cultures around the world, whereby the staple foods of rice and beans are combined in some manner. The grain and legume combination provides several important nutrients and many calories, and both foods are widely available. The beans are usually seasoned, while the rice may be plain or seasoned. The two components may be mixed together, separated on the plate, or served separately. The dish usually consists of white or brown rice accompanied by cooked brown, red or black dry beans and seasoned in various ways. This dish is also commonly served with sides of stewed chicken, pork, beef, potato salad, boiled potatoes, and many other sides from many different cultures. In many areas, beans and rice are often served side by side rather than combined. Either way, they may be considered a meal, frequently with a topping of meat or chicken. Meat or other ingredients are sometimes placed atop beans and rice or, less frequently, mixed into it. Different regions have different preferences. In Nicaragua, for example, red beans are more popular while cooking Gallo pinto, while in Costa Rica black beans are. Also, in Brazil, black beans are more popular in Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, while in most other parts of the country these are mostly only used in feijoadas. The New Orleans specialty known as "red beans and rice" is often accompanied by a side of smoked sausage or a fried pork chop.

Black mamba chili sauce

Side, Snack, Appetizer

Black mamba chili sauce

Black Mamba chili sauce is a popular hot sauce brand from Eswatini, known for its intense heat and bold flavors, made with locally sourced ingredients. The sauces include varieties like Peri-Peri, Chipotle, and Jalapeno, often used to enhance various dishes.

Bulembu honey

Side, Snack, Appetizer

Bulembu honey

Bulembu Honey is produced in Bulembu, Eswatini, where the honey production began in 2007 and has grown significantly, with around 800 beehives currently producing between 10 and 12 tons of honey annually. The honey is part of a community enterprise strategy aimed at providing sustainability to the local community.

Chakalaka

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Chakalaka

Chakalaka is a South African vegetable relish, usually spicy, that is traditionally served with bread, pap, samp, stews, or curries. Chakalaka is said to have originated in the townships of Johannesburg or in the gold mines surrounding Johannesburg, when Mozambican mineworkers leaving their shift cooked tinned produce with chili to produce a spicy Portuguese-style relish to accompany pap. Many variations of Chakalaka exist, depending on region and family tradition. Some versions include beans, cabbage and butternut squash. For example, canned baked beans, canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, and curry paste can be used to make the dish. It is frequently served at a braai (barbecue) or with a Sunday lunch. It can be served cold or at room temperature.

Corn on the cob

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Corn on the cob

Corn on the cob is a culinary term for a cooked ear of sweet corn eaten directly off the cob. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the kernels are still tender. Ears of corn are steamed, boiled, or grilled usually without their green husks, or roasted with them. The husk leaves are removed before serving. Corn on the cob is normally eaten while still warm, and is often seasoned with salt and butter. Some diners use specialized skewers, thrust into the ends of the cob, to hold the ear while eating without touching the hot and sticky kernels. After being picked, the corn's sugar converts into starch: it takes only one day for it to lose up to 25% of its sweetness, so it is ideally cooked on the same day as it is harvested.

Fruit

Side, Snack, Appetizer

Fruit

Avocado, banana, baobab, guava, lemon, lime, mango, paw-paw (papaya), pineapples

Maize

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Maize

Maize /meɪz/ , also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native Americans planted it alongside beans and squashes in the Three Sisters polyculture. The leafy stalk of the plant gives rise to male inflorescences or tassels which produce pollen, and female inflorescences called ears. The ears yield grain, known as kernels or seeds. In modern commercial varieties, these are usually yellow or white; other varieties can be of many colors. Maize relies on humans for its propagation. Since the Columbian exchange, it has become a staple food in many parts of the world, with the total production of maize surpassing that of wheat and rice. Much maize is used for animal feed, whether as grain or as the whole plant, which can either be baled or made into the more palatable silage. Sugar-rich varieties called sweet corn are grown for human consumption, while field corn varieties are used for animal feed, for uses such as cornmeal or masa, corn starch, corn syrup, pressing into corn oil, alcoholic beverages like bourbon whiskey, and as chemical feedstocks including ethanol and other biofuels.

Mealie bread

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Mealie bread

Mealie bread or sweetcorn bread is a type of South African cuisine. It is sweetened bread baked with creamed corn, traditionally buttered and eaten while still hot out of the oven. The bread is prepared with mealies, which is an African variety of maize. Traditionally, it is packed into metal cocoa cans, lidded, and then steamed in the can. In Eswatini, it is a common street food. Mealie bread is also a traditional meal in Eswatini It takes 20 to 35 minutes to prepare and 30 to 45 minutes to oven bake.

Peanuts

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Peanuts

The peanut , also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large commercial producers, both as grain legume and as an oil crop. Atypically among legumes, peanut pods develop underground leading botanist Carl Linnaeus to name peanuts hypogaea, which means "under the earth". The peanut belongs to the botanical family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), commonly known as the legume, bean, or pea family. Like most other legumes, peanuts harbor symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in root nodules, which improve soil fertility, making them valuable in crop rotations.

Polony

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Polony

A bologna-like pork, beef and/or chicken sausage, this processed meat sausage is different from chikanda, also called African polony, which is a vegetarian loaf made from orchid tubers, peanuts, chilies and baking soda

Pumpkin

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Pumpkin

A pumpkin is a cultivated winter squash in the genus Cucurbita. The term is most commonly applied to round, orange-colored squash varieties, but does not possess a scientific definition. It may be used in reference to many different squashes of varied appearance and belonging to multiple species in the Cucurbita genus. The use of the word "pumpkin" is thought to have originated in New England in North America, derived from a word for melon, or a native word for round. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with "squash" or "winter squash", and is commonly used for some cultivars of Cucurbita argyrosperma, Cucurbita ficifolia, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, and Cucurbita pepo.

Rice

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Rice

Rice is a cereal grain and in its domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa —or, much less commonly, Oryza glaberrima (African rice). Asian rice was domesticated in China some 13,500 to 8,200 years ago; African rice was domesticated in Africa about 3,000 years ago. Rice has become commonplace in many cultures worldwide; in 2021, 787 million tons were produced, placing it fourth after sugarcane, maize, and wheat. Only some 8% of rice is traded internationally. China, India, and Indonesia are the largest consumers of rice. A substantial amount of the rice produced in developing nations is lost after harvest through factors such as poor transport and storage. Rice yields can be reduced by pests including insects, rodents, and birds, as well as by weeds, and by diseases such as rice blast. Traditional rice polycultures such as rice-duck farming, and modern integrated pest management seek to control damage from pests in a sustainable way. Many varieties of rice have been bred to improve crop quality and productivity. Biotechnology has created Green Revolution rice able to produce high yields when supplied with nitrogen fertiliser and managed intensively. Other products are rice able to express human proteins for medicinal use; flood-tolerant or deepwater rice; and drought-tolerant and salt-tolerant varieties. Rice is used as a model organism in biology.

Slaai

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Slaai

A salad is a dish consisting of mixed ingredients, frequently vegetables. They are typically served chilled or at room temperature, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a variety of flavors, are used to make a salad. Garden salads use a base of leafy greens such as lettuce, arugula or rocket, kale or spinach; they are common enough that the word salad alone often refers specifically to garden salads. Other types include bean salad, tuna salad, bread salad , vegetable salads without leafy greens (such as Greek salad, potato salad, coleslaw), rice-, pasta- and noodle-based salads, fruit salads and desserts.

Sorghum

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Sorghum

Sorghum bicolor, commonly called sorghum and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the grass genus Sorghum cultivated for its grain. The grain is used as food by humans, while the plant is used for animal feed and ethanol production. Sorghum originated in Africa, and is now cultivated widely in tropical and subtropical regions. Sorghum is the world's fifth-most important cereal crop after rice, wheat, maize, and barley. Sorghum is typically an annual, but some cultivars are perennial. It grows in clumps that may reach over 4 metres (13 ft) high. The grain is small, 2 to 4 millimetres (0.08 to 0.2 in) in diameter. Sweet sorghums are cultivars primarily grown for forage, syrup production, and ethanol. They are taller than those grown for grain.

Sugarcane

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Sugarcane

Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, perennial grass that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. Sugarcanes belong to the grass family, Poaceae, an economically important flowering plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum, and many forage crops. It is native to New Guinea. Sugarcane was an ancient crop of the Austronesian and Papuan people. The best evidence available today points to the New Guinea area as the site of the original domestication of Saccharum officinarum. It was introduced to Polynesia, Island Melanesia, and Madagascar in prehistoric times via Austronesian sailors. It was first known to India and then introduced to Southern China by 500 BC. The Persians and Greeks encountered the famous "reeds that produce honey without bees" in India between the sixth and fourth centuries BC. They adopted and then spread sugarcane agriculture. By the eighth century, sugar was considered a luxurious and expensive spice from India, and merchant trading spread its use across the Mediterranean and North Africa. In the 18th century, sugarcane plantations began in the Caribbean, South American, Indian Ocean, and Pacific island nations. The need for sugar crop laborers became a major driver of large migrations, some people voluntarily accepting indentured servitude and others forcibly imported as slaves.

Sweet potato

Side, Snack, Appetizer

Sweet potato

The sweet potato or sweetpotato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoots and leaves are sometimes eaten as greens. Cultivars of the sweet potato have been bred to bear tubers with flesh and skin of various colors. Sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato (Solanum tuberosum), both being in the order Solanales. Although darker sweet potatoes are often referred to as "yams" in parts of North America, the species is even more distant from the true yams, which are monocots in the order Dioscoreales. The sweet potato is native to the tropical regions of South America in what is present-day Ecuador. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, I. batatas is the only crop plant of major importance—some others are used locally (e.g., I. aquatica "kangkong" as a green vegetable), but many are poisonous. The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories, but that term is not usually extended to I. batatas. Some cultivars of I. batatas are grown as ornamental plants under the name tuberous morning glory, and used in a horticultural context. Sweet potatoes can also be called yams in North America. When soft varieties were first grown commercially there, there was a need to differentiate between the two. Enslaved Africans had already been calling the 'soft' sweet potatoes 'yams' because they resembled the unrelated yams in Africa. Thus, 'soft' sweet potatoes were referred to as 'yams' to distinguish them from the 'firm' varieties.

Tibhidvo

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Tibhidvo

Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, leaves, roots, and seeds. An alternative definition of the term is applied somewhat arbitrarily, often by culinary and cultural tradition. It may exclude foods derived from some plants that are fruits, flowers, nuts, and cereal grains, but include savoury fruits such as tomatoes and courgettes, flowers such as broccoli, and seeds such as pulses. Originally, vegetables were collected from the wild by hunter-gatherers and entered cultivation in several parts of the world, probably during the period 10,000 BC to 7,000 BC, when a new agricultural way of life developed. At first, plants that grew locally were cultivated, but as time went on, trade brought common and exotic crops from elsewhere to add to domestic types. Nowadays, most vegetables are grown all over the world as climate permits, and crops may be cultivated in protected environments in less suitable locations. China is the largest producer of vegetables, and global trade in agricultural products allows consumers to purchase vegetables grown in faraway countries. The scale of production varies from subsistence farmers supplying the needs of their family for food, to agribusinesses with vast acreages of single-product crops. Depending on the type of vegetable concerned, harvesting the crop is followed by grading, storing, processing, and marketing.

Tinhlavu

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Tinhlavu

A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes. After being harvested, dry grains are more durable than other staple foods, such as starchy fruits (plantains, breadfruit, etc.) and tubers (sweet potatoes, cassava, and more). This durability has made grains well suited to industrial agriculture, since they can be mechanically harvested, transported by rail or ship, stored for long periods in silos, and milled for flour or pressed for oil. Thus, the grain market is a major global commodity market that includes crops such as maize, rice, soybeans, wheat and other grains. In the grass family, a grain (narrowly defined) is a caryopsis, a fruit with its wall fused on to the single seed inside, belonging to a cereal such as wheat, maize, or rice. More broadly, in agronomy and commerce, seeds or fruits from other plant families are called grains if they resemble cereal caryopses. For example, amaranth is sold as "grain amaranth", and amaranth products may be described as "whole grains". The pre-Hispanic civilizations of the Andes had grain-based food systems, but at higher elevations none of the grains belonged the cereal family. All three grains native to the Andes (kaniwa, kiwicha, and quinoa) are broad-leaved plants rather than grasses.

Umbhonyo wemantongomane

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Umbhonyo wemantongomane

Boiled peanuts are popular in some places where peanuts are common. Fully mature peanuts do not make good quality boiled peanuts; rather, raw or green ones are used. Raw denotes peanuts in a semi-mature state, having achieved full size but not being fully dried, as would be needed for roasting or peanut butter use. Green denotes freshly harvested and undried peanuts that must be refrigerated. After boiling in salt water they take on a strong salty taste, becoming softer with prolonged cooking, and somewhat resembling a pea or bean, to which they are related because they are legumes and a nut only in the culinary sense. The most flavorful peanuts for boiling are the Valencia type. These are preferred in the United States, being grown in gardens and small patches throughout the South. Green Virginia-type peanuts are also sometimes used. Boiled peanuts are widely consumed and commercially available in an area of the Southern United States from North Carolina, south to central Florida, as far north as Ohio, and west to Mississippi. The peanuts are sold in the hull and boiled with only salt or with a piquant spice mixture such as Old Bay or Zatarain's. The latter are often called "Cajun boiled peanuts" in many recipes.

Umbhonyo wetindlubu

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Umbhonyo wetindlubu

Vigna subterranea is a member of the family Fabaceae. Its name is derived from the Bambara ethnic group. The plant originated in West Africa. As a food and source of income, the Bambara groundnut is considered to be the third most important leguminous crop in those African countries where it is grown, after peanut and cowpea. The crop is mainly cultivated, sold and processed by women, and is, thus, particularly valuable for female subsistence farmers. Bambara groundnut represents the third most important grain legume in semi-arid Africa. It is resistant to high temperatures and is suitable for marginal soils where other leguminous crops cannot be grown. It is a low-impact crop. The entire plant is known for soil improvement because of nitrogen fixation.

Umkhunsu

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Umkhunsu

Cooked and dried meat

Umncweba

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Umncweba

Biltong is a form of air-dried, cured meat which originated in South Africa, and from there spread to other Southern African countries -- . Various types of meat are used to produce it, ranging from beef to game meats such as ostrich or kudu. The cut may also vary being either fillets of meat cut into strips following the grain of the muscle, or flat pieces sliced across the grain. It is related to beef jerky, as both are spiced, dried meats; however, the typical ingredients, taste, and production processes may differ. Biltong is air-dried, which gives it a unique texture and flavor, whereas jerky is heated to at least 71 °C (160 °F). The word "biltong" is from the Afrikaans bil ("buttock") and tong ("strip" or "tongue").

Umphokoqo

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Umphokoqo

Crumbly pap (cornmeal porridge) in amasi (sour milk), serve cold

Vegetables

Side, Snack, Appetizer

Vegetables

Beans, beets, corn, green beans, greens, potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, sweet potato, tomatoes, yam