First Lady praises traditional dishes

Tendai Rupapa recently in GOKWE
CONSUMPTION of traditional dishes is neither a sign of poverty nor backwardness because the food has high nutritional value and medicinal properties no one can afford to miss, health ambassador First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has said.

She said it was discouraging to see people eating indigenous dishes behind closed doors for fear of being ridiculed by less-informed people.

Amai Mnangagwa made the remarks while officiating at a colourful tradition meal cookout competition where she had been invited as a guest of honour by Chief Njelele and his wife Mrs Virginia Njelele in Gokwe South on Sunday.

She took advantage of the gathering to spread Covid-19 and vaccination awareness and warn communities against the indiscriminate cutting down of trees.

The competition coincided with the unveiling of a traditional oven which the chiefs’ and headmen’s wives built for the benefit of the community.

Women and girls in the area were invited to take advantage of the oven to sharpen their baking skills.

Once lit, the heat from the oven can last between three and four days.

The First Lady officially unveiled the oven and thanked the community female leaders for heeding her call to encourage women in communities to engage in self-help projects.

Participants in the cookout competition displayed many innovative and mouth-watering dishes capable of changing the way people view indigenous food.

They prepared dried beef in peanut butter, cassava, road runner, cassava sadza which is called sadza remujimbura, millet sadza, and pumpkins which were prepared in different ways.

They also exhibited yams sausages, madora, different types of dried vegetables, manyenya, kwirimba, mushroom, traditional rice, hanga, nyemba pie, coated sweet potatoes, chakata porridge and chakata biscuits, baobab porridge, kariri mixture of dovi and tomatoes and Mpolokoqo, among other dishes.

Fruits included baobab, matamba, hacha, cucumbers, pawpaw, snot apples, masawu and nyii. For snacks, there were roasted pumpkin seeds and roasted groundnuts and mhandire.

Juices included maheu, black jack juice, shayani juice made from shayani leaves which they said increases blood and mukumanene tea which they also said lowers hypertension.

Regina Ruzvidzo (26) came up tops, showing how the younger generation had accepted traditional dishes and was packaging them innovatively to appeal to various consumers.

Mrs Sikonzile Savunga, the wife to headman Helegwa came second and they both won sets of pots and kitchen utensils. All the participants were given food hampers and toiletries by the First Lady.

Amai Mnangagwa said her visit was at the invitation of Mrs Njelele to see for herself how the community was carrying forward her programme to promote traditional dishes.

“I started this programme sometime back and covered all the provinces. Today I have come to fulfil the invitation by Chief Njelele and his wife. This food nourished our ancestors and we are passing this over to the next generation so that everyone embraces our indigenous food.

“Most of us feel embarrassed to eat our food which is nutritious and medicinal. Some of us are embarrassed to the point of taking the food behind closed doors fearing to be labelled poor. But this is not the case, let’s embrace our indigenous food which is healthy and nutritious.

“Some time back I called the chiefs’ wives to State House and that was the beginning of our relationship for the benefit of communities. Since then, we have never looked back.

“When we met, they told me their way of life in the communities and their challenges.”

I then gave them different types of traditional grains to start growing them together with women in their communities, but they did not know why I did this.

“Today, here, they prepared indigenous food including these traditional grains. When I gave them, I was looking ahead. I am also happy with the traditional stove we unveiled here whereby women and girls will come and learn how to bake.

“There is always a market for yummy baked goods and this means the women can now use their hands to earn a living. They will make other stoves of like-design in their wards so that their baking business could expand. This type of stove will reduce cutting down of trees. As environmental ambassador I will be pleased.”

The First Lady urged women to remain united and spread love in communities, saying such competitions like traditional cooking and cooperatives bring unity.

On encouraging people to prioritise indigenous foods, the First Lady said if a person falls sick, they are given sorghum porridge first in the morning whether in hospital or at home because it is nourishing.

“I am saying let’s eat our traditional foods so that it aides the medicine from health practitioners,” she said.

“Some countries yearn for our food and that’s why I am promoting indigenous food for a healthy nation.”

In jest, the First Lady asked the elderly men the indigenous foods they enjoy the most and most of them said sorghum sadza with dried vegetables in peanut butter.

“I hope our grandmothers dried vegetables for future use because dried vegetables seem to be everyone’s favourite here,” she said.

On Covid-19, Amai Mnangagwa said it was critical for the nation to embrace vaccination and keep the virus at bay.

She implored people not to listen to those peddling falsehoods against vaccination on social media.

She also spoke about non-communicable diseases and encouraged people to keep on taking their medicines to stay safe.

The First Lady, who is also the country’s environmental ambassador, warned communities against cutting down of trees wantonly as this exposed the soil to erosion and destroyed the natural habitats of many creatures.

Mrs Juliet Mashaya, the wife to Chief Jiri said she was awestruck by the First Lady’s vision and zeal to benefit the nation.

“As chiefs’ wives and the First Lady’s ambassadors, we invited her here to come and see the point we have reached with her traditional cookout competition,” she said.

“We will continue taking this programme to all our communities and wards.

“We want everyone to appreciate these dishes and teach the younger generation their importance. We thank Amai for the vision she has which will help us survive these turbulent times of Covid-19. We promise to support her initiatives as they all benefit the nation.”

Mrs Jiri said some children in their communities were not readily accepting the traditional food, favouring exotic foods.

She added that with the First Lady’s intervention promoting the traditional foods, they were going to win the battle.

The wife to headmen Shumbayaonda, Mrs Eustina Ndlovu, said she was on cloud nine because of the wealth of experience she had acquired as a participant in the cookout competition.

“We were taught by our mother, the First Lady, that indigenous dishes nourish our bodies and fights diseases like kwashiorkor, hypertension and diabetes, among other diseases,” she said.

“Traditional food is readily available, cheap and affordable by many. As a headman’s wife, I am encouraging the spouses of headmen countrywide to teach other elderly and young women who have remained behind at home that they should not worry about exotic dishes which have less nutritional value.”

Mrs Sikonzile Savunga, the wife to headman Helegwa, said she was grateful for the uplifting teachings from the First Lady.

“I am grateful for being uplifted by the First Lady through her teachings,” she said.

“This makes it possible for us to then teach other women whom we lead in the communities on how the dishes are prepared.

“Nowadays we are blighted by many diseases because we abandoned our culture and food that we were taught by our ancestors.

“If we look at the way we were taught by the First Lady taking us back to our olden days, we now wish that the country embraces our traditional foods so that we all stay healthy.”

Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Larry Mavima and Minister of State for State Security Owen Ncube attended the event which was held under strict Covid-19 rules.