🌍 Southern Africa
The south of the continent: thick soured amasi milk is a traditional food of the Zulu, Xhosa and neighbouring peoples.
Southern Africa is a region in the south of the African continent that includes South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini and neighbouring countries. In southern Africa — South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries — cattle were historically a measure of wealth and part of family rituals for many Bantu peoples. Milk was usually not drunk fresh but soured.
The region’s main traditional product is amasi (maas in Afrikaans), a thick sour milk. Raw cow’s milk ferments for one to five days in a calabash or leather bag, and then the whey is drained off. Amasi is eaten with maize porridge or drunk. Among the Zulu it is considered a food that gives strength and is linked to ritual taboos, while among the Xhosa, according to accounts, amasi is served to a bride as a sign of her acceptance into the family.
Today amasi is also made industrially with Lactococcus lactis starter cultures; it is popular in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. European settlers brought their own dairy dishes, such as the milk tart melktert, which has become part of the local cuisine.
What it includes
- Peoples
- Traditional products
How it connects to milk
🌍 Southern Africa → kind of → 🌍 World regions → kind of → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Traditional products
- 🥣 Amasi
- Peoples
- 🧑🤝🧑 Zulu, 🧑🤝🧑 Xhosa
- Part of
- 🌍 World regions
Frequently asked questions
What is maas?
The Afrikaans name for amasi, the thick sour milk of southern Africa.
What dairy foods are traditional in southern Africa?
Above all amasi, a sour cow’s milk eaten with maize porridge.
What is melktert?
A South African tart with a milk custard filling, which came from the cooking of European settlers.
Similar
🌍 West Africa · 🌍 Himalayas and Tibet · 🌍 Arctic and the North · 🌍 Carpathians · 🌍 Central Europe · 🌍 North America
Sources
- Maleke et al. Processing, nutritional composition and microbiology of amasi: A Southern African fermented milk product. Scientific African, 2021
- Wikipedia — Amasi