Last Thursday, colonialism reared its ugly head but was tastefully beaten down with a mugoti (wooden spoon) by none other than Kudakwashe Makoni a.k.a. ‘The Black Chef’. At a media tasting at the newly opened Ora Lounge in Helensvale, Makoni served lessons and meaning along with his decadent multi-cultural dishes.

He melded modernity and tradition into pleasant flavours as he reinterpreted, married and divorced local and international dishes. For example, his first dish comprised of beef ribs in an orange and black pepper sauce atop cheesy sadza balls. This meal was delish and started the debate on the politics and colonialism of food.

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A guest at the tasting commented that sadza is a local dish that should not be messed with. As the well-balanced flavours titillated our taste buds, a lively debate ensued.  If food should be left alone in its simple-made-at-home state, especially when local, then let’s just all stay home and eat porridge and call it a day.

Food is like life, it requires and responds to innovation. The irony of proclaiming sadza as a traditional food, is the fact that it is not, as was aptly pointed out by Carl Joshua Ncube.

Even today, sadza is found in the dog section in many stores—it was a form of oppression, a colonial food that was used to provide workers with a cheap source of food. In its most refined and whitest form (ngwerewere) it is at best a filler food with limited benefits aside from satiation.  Think of how this stunts growth, mental capacity etc.

Pre-colonialism, locals ate nutritious small grains such as finger millet which provided more energy and health benefits than maize. “How come when people are told to eat healthy, they opt for oatmeal porridge? And how come no one recommends putting fruit and raisins in maize porridge?” noted the comedian. There were hallelujah moments right there and then as we partook of the Black Chef’s creations and delved into the politics of food.

For the next dish, a chickpea, butternut and pomegranate salad was served, and one of the ingredients was “crispy kale”. How fancy right? NOT.  The Black Chef explained to the guests that kale is rugare—one of our ubiquitous leafy greens.

His revelation received murmurs of surprise. The colonialism of food is real, and as all colonialism does, it starts with the mind then becomes institutionalised. Health pundits talk about the kale craze and their voices are significantly louder and more respected than the ancestral voices of our forefathers who told us to eat these leaves over centuries.

It takes a local chef aware of these elements to call out the hypocrisy in the world of food and forcibly combine Western and African to literally provide food for thought.

So-called super-foods are popping up everywhere and most of the time, they are plants that indigenous locals across the globe ate with abandon. The food mafia conglomerates (I will not name names) work hard to control the food  industry and what we consume—if you control food, you control the world.

Our wild grains  fruits and vegetables are underrated unless  labelled under some elitist chi-chi poo poo movement like “paleolithic” and “caveman” diet. How offensive is that if we really  sit and think about it?

Makoni explained “The same bunch of kale that costs 50 cents here, in Dubai costs $30.” The marketing and framing of food, the psychology behind the campaigns, makes a $29.50 difference.

What’s in a name right? A LOT JULIET! A LOT!  The power of language and labelling, patenting (remember the guys who tried to patent turmeric?) the western re-frame of tradition and commonplace meals we ate with our grandmothers alters perceptions and even price-points.

Food for thought, that’s what the Black Chef gave us through his delectable cuisine (more appropriately labelled “quiz-ine” because it made us literally step to the plate (I always intend my puns) and quiz our long-held perceptions, with our tongues literally in cheek.