Don�t blame us, vendors plead
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday June 6, 2014 15:52
For 56-year-old old traditional food vendor, Mantho Phushudi from Tonota, obesity and the related illnesses it has brought Batswana can be traced back to the consumption of “imported” foods and spices.
At the Main Mall, Phushudi sells beans, seswaa, bogobe jwa lerotse, serobe, morogo wa Setswana and other traditional delicacies. She says while she does not use oil in her foods they still taste delicious and have been able to win many customers’ hearts.
Phushudi says growing up, her family’s diet consisted of sorghum, vegetables such as morogo wa Setswana, beans, seswaa and wild fruits.
“In our days we did not have cooking oil and we used animal fat (lemipi) when cooking our vegetables, but still remained fit,” she said.
“We ate our porridge with sour milk but the food was still tasty and healthy. “While some people were fat, they were not obese, unlike these days where people are larger than normal.”
The elderly vendor said ulcers, heart problems, diabetes and a string of other diseases are on the increase due to the high consumption of greasy and spicy foods. Another vendor, Keletso Malatsi said she only uses water and salt to prepare her dishes, which are predominantly Setswana traditional.
“Growing up, we ate morogo wa thepe which is a wild vegetable that grows either in the kraal or the backyard,” she recalls.
“We did not eat oily foods, unlike today,.
“Our chicken was also tasty and you could feel that you were really eating meat unlike this chicken that is fed chemicals to grow fat.
“This new chicken is also not tasty and is too soft for my liking.” According to Malatsi, some people are lazy and prefer to spend most of their time eating fast foods instead of preparing home-cooked meals.
“This might also be attributed to the fact that many people are working and prefer to order takeaways instead of cooking healthy foods,” she said.
Setshego Molopati, 34, sells a variety of wild fruits at the Main Mall, such as moretlwa, mogwana, motsentsele, mmilo, which she says are tasty and healthy, with natural sugars. “Batswana should buy these because they are good for them.”