Botswana

🇧🇼Botswana

Bean Leaf Spinach

Morogo wa dinawa

Spinach made from bean leaves — a popular Setswana food where bean leaves are cooked and dried for preservation, then rehydrated and cooked as a relish; served with pap.

🇧🇼Botswana

Beef Jerky

Segwapa

Botswana dried beef — meat cut into thin strips like strings and dried, a traditional preservation method; similar to biltong but less spiced, the Batswana version of digwapa.

🇿🇦South Africa

Biltong

Umncweba

South Africa's most loved snack: dried, cured, and spiced meat (beef, game, or ostrich) with coriander and salt

🇿🇦Cape Town, South Africa

Bobotie

South Africa's national dish: spiced minced meat baked with raisins, almonds, and curry, topped with an egg custard. A Cape Malay classic, sweet-savory and aromatic, served with yellow rice and sambal, a national icon.

🇿🇦South Africa

Boerewors

South Africa's traditional farmer's sausage of beef (90%+ meat) with coriander, cloves, and nutmeg, coiled and braaied. A national and braai staple, juicy and aromatic, a cultural icon, served in a roll or with pap, a cornerstone.

🇿🇦South Africa

Boerewors Roll (Boerie Roll)

Boerewors rol

A braaied boerewors in a hotdog roll with caramelized onions, tomato sauce, or chutney. A street and braai staple, juicy and savory, a national and school fete classic, a quick and beloved snack, a South African icon.

🇧🇼Botswana

Bogobe

Botswana's staple sorghum porridge — sorghum, maize, or millet flour stirred into boiling water and cooked slowly into a soft paste; sometimes fermented for days to make ting, a sour version eaten with milk and sugar or with meat.

🇧🇼Botswana

Boiled Dumplings

Madombi

Botswana boiled dumplings — similar to matemekwane, dough boiled with meat until saturated with flavour; a staple accompaniment to chicken and beef stews across the country.

🇧🇼Botswana

Botswana Beef Stew

Chotlho

Traditional Botswana beef stew — beef cooked with vegetables and spices in a three-legged pot over open fire; richer and more seasoned than seswaa, with onions, tomatoes, and spices added.

🇧🇼Botswana

Botswana Dumplings

Matemekwane

Traditional Botswana dumplings — dough balls boiled with meat in a three-legged pot, absorbing the rich broth as they cook; served with the meat and gravy, a comforting combination.

🇧🇼Botswana

Botswana Ginger Beer

Ginger beer

Homemade non-alcoholic ginger drink — ginger powder boiled in water with sugar, tartaric acid, and cream of tartar, then fermented for one day; a favourite at weddings and parties.

🇧🇼Botswana

Botswana Samp

Setampa

Samp — processed corn served plain or mixed with beans (dikgobe); a staple of Botswana weddings and celebrations, eaten with pounded meat (seswaa); also known as setampa.

🇧🇼Botswana

Botswana Stovetop Flatbread

Liphaphatha

Botswana stovetop flat cakes — dough cooked on a hot plate or pot lid over coals, not in an oven; a bread introduced with imported wheat flour, now part of the national food culture.

🇿🇦South Africa

Braai

The centrepiece meal of a South African wood-fire gathering: platters of boerewors, lamb chops, steaks and chicken grilled over coals and eaten off the fire with pap, chakalaka and garlic bread

🇿🇦South Africa

Chakalaka

A South African spicy vegetable relish of onions, tomatoes, carrots, beans, garlic, and chili, served with pap or bread. A national and township staple, spicy and savory, a braai and comfort companion

🇧🇼Botswana

Chibuku

Opaque sorghum and maize beer brewed commercially and sold still fermenting in cartons and plastic Scuds that must be shaken before opening.

🇧🇼Botswana

Chicken Feet

Menoto

Botswana chicken feet — boiled or stewed until tender, served with pap; a cheap, flavourful protein source that reflects the Batswana tradition of using every part of the animal.

🇧🇼Botswana

Cultured Milk

Madila

Traditional Botswana cultured/sour milk — milk fermented until tangy and thick, eaten on its own or added to porridge; a staple of the Batswana diet, used in bogobe and tophi preparations.

🇧🇼Botswana

Digwapa

Traditional Botswana dried meat — meat cut into small string-like lengths and dried in the sun; a preservation method that predates refrigeration, the meat is rehydrated and cooked when needed.

🇧🇼Botswana

Dikgobe

Izinkobe

Comforting mixture of beans and samp (processed corn) — a balanced, earthy dish cooked slowly until both beans and samp are tender; a staple of Botswana home cooking, often served at gatherings.

🇧🇼Botswana

Fermented Millet Porridge

Motogo

Fermented millet porridge — a soft, sour breakfast porridge made from fermented millet flour; lighter than bogobe, eaten with milk and sugar as a morning meal.

🇧🇼Botswana

Kgomodimetsing

Traditional Botswana herbal tea — leaves of the kgomodimetsing plant mixed with regular tea for a fragrant, scented brew; a traditional beverage of the Batswana, drunk for both flavour and medicinal properties.

🇧🇼Botswana

Khadi

Traditional Botswana alcoholic drink brewed from various ingredients — the healthiest version uses wild berries; widely consumed among low-income groups; a homemade brew of the Kalahari.

🇧🇼Botswana

Lerotse Porridge

Bogobe jwa lerotse

Wedding porridge of sorghum mixed with lerotse melon — the melon is pre-prepared with sour milk and stored, then cooked into the sorghum; a celebratory dish unique to Botswana, served at weddings.

🇧🇼Botswana

Longman

Traditional Botswana herbal tea — leaves of the longman plant mixed with tea for a scented brew; one of the herbal beverages of Botswana, alongside kgomodimetsing.

🇿🇦South Africa

Mageu (Mahewu)

Mageu

A traditional South African fermented maize-meal drink, sweet and tangy

🇿🇦South Africa

Malva Pudding

Malvapoeding

A Cape Dutch sponge pudding with apricot jam, baked and soaked in a hot cream-caramel sauce, served warm. A national and restaurant classic, sticky and sweet

🇿🇦South Africa

Marula Fruit

Marula

A South African wild fruit from the marula tree, sweet and tangy, used in Amarula and fermented drinks

🇿🇦South Africa

Melktert (Milk Tart)

Melktert

A South African custard tart with a pastry crust, creamy milk filling, and cinnamon dusting, a Dutch-origin classic. A national and bakery staple, creamy and sweet

🇿🇦South Africa

Mielie Bread

Mieliebrood

A southern African sweet corn bread baked or steamed with whole corn kernels - mieliebrood in South Africa, steamed in corn leaves as sinkwa sembila in Eswatini

🇧🇼Botswana

Mopane Worms

Phane

Mopane worms — caterpillars of Gonimbrasia belina, cooked in hot ashes, boiled, or dried and fried with chili and garlic; a highly nutritious protein source and delicacy of Botswana, harvested from mopane trees.

🇿🇦South Africa

Namibian Droëwors

Droëwors

A South African dried sausage, similar to biltong but made from thin boerewors, cured with vinegar and coriander. A national and snack staple, dry and savory, a portable and protein-rich treat, a biltong companion, a beloved snack.

🇧🇼Botswana

Oxtail Stew

Mogatla

Botswana oxtail stew — oxtail slow-cooked in a three-legged pot with onions, tomatoes, and spices until the meat falls off the bone; the gelatinous richness of the tail gives a deep, savoury gravy.

🇿🇦South Africa

Pap en Wors

A South African classic of pap (maize porridge) served with boerewors and tomato-onion sauce. A braai and street staple, hearty and savory

🇿🇦South Africa

Potjiekos

Game potjiekos

A traditional Afrikaner stew of meat and vegetables, slow-cooked outdoors in a three-legged cast-iron pot over coals. A social and braai classic, hearty and layered, a national and communal dish, a Voortrekker tradition.

🇧🇼Botswana

Serobe

Traditional Botswana offal dish — intestines and internal organs of goat, sheep, or cow cooked until soft, with trotters included for sheep or goat; the intestines are thoroughly washed and cut into small pieces with scissors before cooking.