A completely landlocked country, Botswana, situated in Southern Africa, is well-worth a visit. This post will inspire you to visit and try popular Batswana dishes too. This post will also educate you on those things which will have an affect on the cuisine such as Botswanan climate, religion and culture.
Botswana is located in Southern Africa - 70% is the Kalahari desert. It has South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia as its neighbours. Botswana is a semi-arid country. You will find rainfall during the summer though but this is still few and far between occasions. Winter is from May to August. This season is very dry with no rainfall whatsoever.
The majority of the people in Botswana are what is known as Tswana. They are native to Southern Africa, descending from the Bantu-speaking tribes. Other tribes are the Kalanga (also Bantu-speaking, located in Northeastern Botswana) and San Basarwa (also known as Bushmen), who are from various hunter-gatherer groups in Southern Africa. English is the most widely-spoken language in Botswana but Setswana is the native language. This is why you’ll find the main ethnic group in Botswana being referred to as ‘Tswana’. However you must refer to the people (in general) ‘Batswana’.
Christianity is the main religion in Botswana with the majority seeing themselves as Protestants and a very low minority of Catholics. The rest either have no religion or worship through ‘folk’ religion. Folk religion is what is known as ‘animistic’, meaning they believe all objects, plants etc are spiritual beings. These religions are spiritual; they practise traditional beliefs and a lot of them use ‘magic’! Portugal - a lot of their dishes are common over there too.
Botswana Cuisine: A Rainbow of Gastronomy
In many countries around the world, Botswana’s cuisine is known as the Rainbow’s Gastronomy. This country has a huge variety of traditional dishes, the ingredients of which include meat from different animals, cereals, nuts, fruit, as well as fish and seafood. The variety of dishes to eat in Botswana lives up to the name that its cuisine has created.
Read also: Ethiopian Cuisine: Philadelphia Guide
A good way to discover a country is through trying the traditional cuisine of a country. Of course there are a wide variety of cuisines available in Botswana from Italian to Chinese and many local people eat these dishes, but most of them will admit to cooking traditional dishes the most.
The cuisine of Botswana is unique but shares some characteristics with other cuisines of Southern Africa. Batswana procure beef, goat meat, sheep, tswana chicken, Mophane worms and fish locally. Batswana also make home-made refreshing drinks using watermelon, marula and ginger powder.
The markets of Botswana are filled with a large variety of foods. Some are grown locally using irrigation and some are imported from neighbouring countries. A large quantity of high-quality beef is raised in Botswana. Lamb, mutton, chicken and other meats are also plentiful. Beef is the most popular meat, followed by goat meat. Sorghum and maize are the main crops grown in Botswana. Wheat and rice and other kinds of cereals not grown locally are imported. Many different kinds of beans are grown, including cowpeas, ditloo, and letlhodi (mung beans). Peanuts (manoko) are also grown.
Many vegetables are grown, such as spinach, carrots, cabbage, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and lettuce. There are some vegetables that grow in the wild that are available seasonally including thepe and delele (okra). Many fruits are locally available, including marula. Watermelons, believed to have come originally from Botswana, are plentiful in season.
Traditional Meals and Dishes
The main meal is generally eaten at lunchtime traditionally, and leftovers or bread and tea are eaten at dinner.
Read also: Philadelphia Food Truck
A maize porridge called bogobe is the traditional way to eat breakfast in Botswana. Nowadays, it’s common for people to eat non-traditional breakfasts such as cereal, eggs on toast, fruit salads, yoghurt - an influence of the West.
Lunch in Botswana is the biggest meal of the day. A dinner in Botswana would be much lighter than lunch time. It’s a time for leftovers to be eaten up too!
Here are some popular dishes you might encounter:
- Seswaa: Shredded meat such as beef, known as seswaa is very common. It’s the national dish and is often served with a green salad called morongo. The national dish of Botswana is called Seswaa. This consists of a meat stew served over thick polenta or pap. The stew is made by boiling meat with onion and pepper. Adding anything else is considered an infringement. Once the meat has cooked for two hours it is shredded and pounded with salt to add flavour. This is then served on top of the thick maize meal. It is often served with a leafy green which is called Morogo. Seswaa, tshotlho or leswao (pounded beef) is a popular traditional meat dish made for most special occasions. Usually prepared by men, it is cooked in a three-legged iron pot, simmered until soft with only salt, cooking oil and water.
- Stewed Goat and Chicken: Stewed goat and chicken is a popular, if bland dish.
- Oxtail Dishes: Dishes containing oxtail (once an expensive meat but is now featured regularly on people’s meal plans).
- Mopane Worms: Mopane worms, which are actually caterpillars, are also a traditional food to try. They are eaten either boiled, stewed or raw… would you? This is definitely for the adventurous eaters and the ideal way to really immerse yourself into Botswana’s cultural culinary scene. Mopane worms are a local delicacy. They are beautiful caterpillars that are usually served in a tomato stew or peanut sauce. If you’re on a health kick, these are a great option as they’re rich in both protein and calcium.
Meat is often dried and preserved whilst hanging on a string.
Other Traditional Botswana Foods
Here are some additional traditional foods you might find in Botswana:
Read also: A Taste of Ethiopia in South Carolina
- Magwinya: Magwinya, also known as fat cakes - basically mini doughnuts rolled in sugar and dipped in jam! Super tasty! Magwenya are deep-fried donuts sold everywhere in Botswana at all hours of the day. A phenomenal Magwenya hides its flavor, working equally well as a sweet or a savory snack, always enjoyed with a drink. Magwenya is eaten with anything and everything, ranging from kidneys and livers, all the way to jams and jellies.
- Vetkoek: Vetkoek - a fried dough (bun-like) stuffed with meat or vegetables.
- Dikgobe: This is one of the most traditional Botswanan dishes and consists of beans, corn, and lamb. The bean mixture is cooked over low heat, and when it is almost ready, the lamb is roasted. For any vegetarians, this is a great option for tickling your taste buds. Dikgobe combines peas and beans with sorghum, maize meal or samp to create a savoury porridge. It can be served as a main meal or a side dish. When beans are added, the Stampa is called Dikgobe.
- Mogodu: This Botswanan dish is prepared with tripe. A stew is prepared with sliced tripe, which is served with potatoes and peas as an accompaniment.
- Phaphatha: Phaphatha is the bread of Botswana, and it is cooked in a dry pan. You’ll find it alone, or filled with meat. It is a very filling bread, so as a starter it can be quite heavy. Diphaphatha are stove-top muffins, similar to English muffins, and are known for their distinctive browning on both sides.
- Traditional Style Chicken: Without a doubt, chickens raised in the wild are tastier than farm-raised chickens. On top of this, the chicken is cooked in a three-legged iron pot on an open fire, which gives it the best flavor.
- Porridge or “bogobe”: To prepare this traditional Botswanan dish, sorghum, corn or millet flour is placed in boiling water, turning into a soft paste, and is slowly cooked. Sorghum or corn is sometimes fermented, and milk and sugar are added. This dish is called Ting. Another way to make bogobe is to add sour milk and melon to make lerotse. This dish is called tofu by the Kalanga tribe. Bogobe is made by putting sorghum, maize or millet flour into boiling water, stirring into a soft paste, and then cooking it slowly. Sometimes the sorghum or maize is fermented before cooking for some days to make it sour. This dish is called ting. This sour porridge can be cooked and eaten with meat or milk and sugar. Without the milk and sugar, ting. Bogobe is another staple, but unlike phaletshe, is more native to Botswana than any other Southern African nation. Bogobe is made out of powdered millet or sorghum and cooked in boiling water. Varieties include Bogobe Jwa Lerotse, which is made by incorporating a Lerotse melon into the sorghum mix. Bogobe Jwa Legala is another variant, cooked in milk for a creamier texture.
Here’s a table summarizing some of the popular Botswana dishes:
TRADITIONAL FOODS OF BOTSWANA | BOTSWANA CUISINE
| Dish Name | Main Ingredients | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Seswaa | Beef, goat, lamb, or chicken | Meat boiled with onion and pepper until soft and tender, often served with pap or morogo. |
| Bogobe | Sorghum, maize, or millet flour | Porridge made by cooking flour in boiling water, sometimes fermented or mixed with milk and melon. |
| Mopane Worms | Caterpillars | Caterpillars served in tomato stew or peanut sauce, rich in protein and calcium. |
| Magwinya | Dough | Deep-fried doughnuts, often enjoyed as a sweet or savory snack. |
| Dikgobe | Peas, beans, sorghum, maize meal, or samp | Savoury porridge, can be served as a main meal or side dish. |
Traditional Drinks
To accompany some of the tasty dishes of Botswana, you can try the famous beer, Bojalwa. This beer is made from the fermentation of sorghum, and those who try it adopt it as their favorite drink for the duration of their trip. But if you want to try a truly traditional drink, order Madila, the drink which is popular with the people of Botswana, which is made of fermented milk. For homemade liquors, Khadi is made from a base of distilled sugar and mushrooms.
There are various traditionally produced alcoholic drinks. Bojalwa ja Setswana (the beer of Botswana) is brewed from fermented sorghum seeds. Other tribes, like Bakalanga, use lebelebele (millet). A commercially produced and packaged beer, Chibuku, brewed from either maize or sorghum, is a favourite drink particularly in the villages, towns, and in some parts of the city.
Milk is fermented to make madila (sour milk) which is eaten on its own or added to porridge. A favorite non-alcoholic homemade drink is ginger beer. This drink is popularly served at special occasions like weddings and parties.
In the tubers and cereals area, millet, sorghum and native products such as bogobe and mabele are part of many recipes in the country. As for seafood, oysters, lobsters, and clams are high-quality products that you can eat in Botswana. Finally, as for fruit, you can savor papayas, bananas, and delicious avocados. As you can see, the Botswanan cuisine is extremely desirable.
