What kinds of foods can I expect the average Johannesburg citizen to eat?

Answer 1

South Africa has a very diverse culture and even if someone lives in Johannesburg, he or she may be from another area. The diversity explains the differences in tastes and likes or dislikes according to cuisine.

South African cuisine is heavily meat-based and has spawned the distinctively South African social gathering known as a braai.

Some of the favorite dishes among all South Africans are:
1.Biltong, a salty dried meat (similar to jerky)
2.Bobotie, a dish of Malay descent, is like meatloaf with raisins and with baked egg on top, and is often served with yellow rice, sambals, coconut, banana slices, and chutney
3.Boerewors, a sausage that is traditionally braaied (barbequed)
4.Bunny chow, curry stuffed into a hollowed-out loaf of bread
5.Chutney, a sweet sauce made from fruit that is usually poured on meat, especially a local brand called Mrs Ball's Chutney
5.Frikkadelle - meatballs
6.Gesmoorde vis, salted cod with potatoes and tomatoes and sometimes served with apricot jam
7.Hoenderpastei, chicken pie, traditional Afrikaans fare
8.Isidudu, pumpkin pap
9.Koesisters come in two forms and are a sweet delicacy. Afrikaans koesisters are twisted pastries, deep fried and heavily sweetened. Koesisters found on the Cape Flats are sweet and spicy, shaped like large eggs, and deep-fried
10.Malva Pudding, a sweet spongy Apricot pudding of Dutch origin.
11.Mashonzha, made from the mopane worm
12.Melktert (milk tart), a milk-based tart or dessert
13.Melkkos (milk food), another milk-based dessert
14.Mealie-bread, a sweet bread baked with sweetcorn
15.Mielie-meal, one of the staple foods, often used in baking but predominately cooked into pap, or phutu, a traditional Bantu porridge which is usually eaten with beans, gravy, or meat
16.Ostrich is an increasingly popular protein source as it has a low cholesterol content; it is either used in a stew or filleted and grilled
17.Pampoenkoekies (pumpkin fritters), patatrolle (sweet potato rolls) and a further variety of baked goods where flour has been supplemented with or replaced by pumpkin or sweet potato
18.Potbrood (pot bread), savoury bread baked over coals in cast-iron pots
19.Potjiekos, a traditional Afrikaans stew made with meat and vegetables and cooked over coals in cast-iron pots
20.Rusks, a rectangular, hard, dry biscuit eaten after being dunked in tea or coffee; they are either home-baked or shop-bought (with the most popular brand being Ouma Rusks)
21.Samosa or samoosa, a savoury stuffed Indian pastry that is fried
22.Sosaties, grilled marinated meat on a skewer
23.Tomato bredie, a lamb and tomato stew
24.Trotters and Beans, from the Cape, made from boiled pig's or sheep's trotters and onions and beans
25.Umngqusho, a dish made from semolina and black-eyed peas
26.Vetkoek (fat cake), deep-fried dough balls, typically stuffed with meat or served with jam
27.Waterblommetjie bredie (water flower stew), meat stewed with the flower of the Cape Pondweed

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Porgie and Anria pretty much summed things up about a lot of SA's traditional foods but there are still a few missing. Besides traditional foods, there's a healthy Mediterranean influence and a move toward toward lots of "fusion" styles as well.

And as for South Africans not liking hot puddings I've got a recipe book here written by a nice Afrikaans tannie I know that says otherwise. Oh wait that can't be. South Africans liking hot puddings is a communist plot by the ANC. For hundreds of years the traditional Afrikaner hot puddings was actually a subversive plot and illusion created by the evil communists who want to destroy the world - with puddings and custard! LOL

Answer 4

South Africans like spicy hot foods.
I've been to an African restaurant.
They have mixed vegetables with a choice of meats or chicken.
Myself I had a dish that had rive , red colord hot sauce , boiled whole green bean stock with the beans it it , bell peppers , onions , some other vegetables , pork , and beef.
You can say it was much like a Chinese dish that was rather hot , spicy , and a bit salty instead of sweet and sour.
And my Friend had the same with an order of extra rice on the side and a bowl of some kind of yummy looking soup.
And they had water , coffee , tea , and pop to offer.

Answer 5

It really depends on the race of the person. White people eat very similar foods to Europeans with the odd South African speciality thrown in. The answer you have from Porgie is not true and reflects more the eating habits of the Cape Coloureds. Johannesburg has many restaurants serving European,Indian,Chinese and Japanese cuisine but at home most will eat a balance of meat,chicken,rice,pasta,vegetables and salad. Soup and Dessert ( unless it is ice cream oriented) are not big in Johannesburg. Maybe fruit but certainly not hot puddings you would associate with the UK.
Trust the ANC apologist to disagree with hot puddings but then again the ANC are a disagreeable lot.

Answer 6

This is a difficult question as there are many "averages" depending on race, culture, age and class. Here are a few examples:
A middle class Afrikaans family will eat a mixture of foods. Desserts like melktert (milktart) and koeksisters (almost like caramalised doughnuts) which are passed on to them from their Dutch ancesters.
They normally eat "kook kos" which consists of stewed meat, rice or potatoes and stewed vegetables (pumpkin, beans etc)
A middle class English South Afrikan family will eat similiar food, but will also have old English favourites like "spotted dick" and "bubble and squeek".
A middle class Xhosa or Zulu family will once more eat similiar foods, but will replace rice or potatoes with "Pap" (cornmeal porridge) and "chakalaka" (onion and tomatoe sauce)
These are just generilsed though, and an Afrikaans family will eat "Pap en sous", just like the Xhosa family and visa versa.
Many South African love to "braai" (barbeque) and almost all like "biltong" (dried meat delicassy)
There are also many other cultures eg Portugese and Greek families, who eat their traditional foods, aswell as the South African delicassies.
But also many people in the city, despite race or creed, also have take away meals, wheter it be a cheeseburger from McD's, or a roasted "mielie" (corncob) from a street vendour.
It is hard to generalise, as there are so many cultures, and many adopt foods from other cultures, while retaining their own, so it could be a wide variety of answers.

Answer 7

Anything from African Cuisine, to Mexican,French, Italian,Portuguese, Greek etc..Name it and we have it in Johannesburg.

Answer 8

The same as you. Beef, lamb, chicken, pork. Vegetables, rice potatoes, cereal, chips . We eat nothing weird or strange.

Answer 9

My personal preference is SUSHI, or some good Thai dish; but then it's easier tio find in Durban than in JHB.

Answer 10

KFC,KFC,KFC,KFC,RUSSIAN AND CHIPS,CURRY AND RICE,WIMPY BURGERS none of the other foods previously mentioned are eaten by the average person in Johannesburg.