A South African Thanksgiving

In Cana­da many peo­ple would say this mouth drool­ing dish is the result of a bar­be­cue. How­ev­er, South Africans would know that this is the result of a Braai. The word braai was derived from the Dutch word ‘braden’, which means ‘roast’.

Pho­tog­ra­ph­er: Thando Mkha­bela

Dur­ing hol­i­days and cel­e­bra­tions, South Africans will gath­er to host a braai with their hun­gry friends and fam­i­ly mem­bers. A braai con­sists of meat cooked over an open flame, on a wood or char­coal grill. Com­mon­ly grilled meats at a braai are chick­en, lamb and vorst. 

Pho­tog­ra­ph­er: Joy Mkha­bela

Although a good braai is deli­cious, you can’t just have a Brie on its own. If you are look­ing for a way to incor­po­rate South African cul­ture into your dish­es this thanks­giv­ing, meet up with your loved ones and cre­ate a sev­en colours dish.

Sev­en colours dish is a tra­di­tion­al dish that com­mon­ly includes rice or pap, chick­en, lamb and/or beef, sweet pota­to and/or chakala­ka, beets, spinach, pota­to sal­ad and/or coleslaw. 

This dish is a great exam­ple. White rice. Red toma­to sauce. Orange chakala­ka. Yel­low mash pota­toes. Green spinach. Brown chick­en. Pur­ple beets. An array of food that’s flavours are just as colour­ful as they are visu­al appeal­ing.

But wait a minute… what about dessert?

Pho­tog­ra­ph­er: Joy Mkha­bela

When most peo­ple think of thanks­giv­ings dessert, they think of apple or pump­kin pie. A clas­sic South African dessert is quite min­i­mal and has two ingre­di­ents: Jell‑O and cus­tard. Sim­ple and deli­cious.

Whether it’s a braai, a sev­en coloured dish, jel­lo and cus­tard or all of the above, head to the store, before its too late, and add a lit­tle South African flare to your Thanks­giv­ing meal.

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