21/08/2026
FOOD AS MEMORY
Amaceba we thanga, Nyawuthi, Marula, hibiscus-Zobo flower mousse, roasted Mozambican coconut and much more! Food as Memory brought us together around stories, traditions, and shared experiences.
Thank you to facilitator Ntombekhaya Tisani, conversation starter Vho-Mphatheleni Makaulule, Chef Noni for the indigenous culinary experience, and Zviko for the sonic journey that accompanied our gathering. And thank you to The Forge who opened their space to gather.
A Reflection and educational note from Chef Noni:
This particular plate like many is a journey to our beginning, a beginning uninterrupted, untainted, uncolonised, borderless and held by everything that makes us, even the more than human. This plate intended unify or reunite the Mother her babies, it was a gentle reminder of the warmth of our cradle, back to the centre of our labyrinth, a listening of a language long forgotten, igniting countless other senses we forget to bring play. This is the Land Love Language from EMANDULO.
The magic here is you are not walking alone, accompanied by the Great Ancestors hand in hand from the North, East, South and West of the land, Water in the lead, Fire, garnished with love.
The dessert is joyous muddy rocky road back to my childhood, barefoot and covered in all shades of muddy browns, the freedom and fearlessness of combining sourfig-unomatyumtyum, pineapple, dates and some heat from the east, Marula, hibiscus-Zobo flower mousse, roasted Mozambican coconut and egusi seed and because someone told you that East and West never meet, guess what I did- plantain mandazi starred with The Great GrainMother Sorghum Amazimba alongside the warmth of cacao and baobab coffee.
We were welcomed by the creamiest ferment of Millet and tigernut Fura-Amagewu holding the ground steady, Indlubu like grandma used to make- just water, fire and salt. Whole Nyawuthi cooked in groundnut stew. The real four cousins in their green- Thepe (amaranth), Amagwagwa (pumpkin leaf), sweet potato leaf and kunde (cowpea greens). Umnqusho as the ancients ordered- just sorghum and beans. Gluten free plantain teff steamed bread. The underground gang- Madumbe and Sweetpotato just as you remember. An even deeper delight of Amaceba we thanga (whole squash cooked as she is with her seeds). Cashew harissa dips with hints of garlic buchu, a proper show stopper alongside my foraged greens, dandelion, spekboom, plus raw kale citrus salad.
And this is how our journey home went.
What’s home without the burbs of ginger, soursop, tamarind, baobab, buchu, pineapple and Zobo.
Welcome home. Now you remember. ❤️
