Brilliant Boerekos

The koeksister is a typical Boerekos treat

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Afrikaner cuisine is the regionally specific cuisine of the "Afrikaners" the descendents from the original Dutch, French and German settlers, who founded the Cape colony in the 17th century.

Boerekos (literally 'farmer food' in the Afrikaans language) is the culinary inheritance of those Afrikaners who rebelled against British colonial rule and trekked away from the Cape Colony from 1835 onwards into the areas that are today known as the Free State, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal.

Cape Dutch cuisine is the culinary legacy of those Afrikaners who remained at the Cape. Cape Dutch Afrikaner cuisine contains Dutch, Khoi, French and Malay influences, and it reflects the fertile land and marine resources of the region.

The use of cinnamon and nutmeg to season cooked vegetables reflects the influence of the Dutch, while Khoi flavours are evident in the use of indigenous ingredients such as rooibos tea and waterblommetjies (edible water lily flowers).

Malay spices such star fennel, turmeric, cardamom; tamarind and ginger came into Afrikaner cooking by way of Malaysian slaves imported from Southeast Asia. Malay women were accomplished cooks. They were sought after in early Cape kitchens where they introduced the sweet-savoury flavours and complexly spiced masalas still discernible in modern Cape Dutch cuisine today.

Cape Dutch Afrikaner cuisine can be sampled in restaurants such as De Volkskombuis in Stellenbosch, Solms-Delta and La Motte wine estates in Franschhhoek, Paddagang restaurant in Tulbagh and the Hantam Huis in Calvinia.

By contrast, boerekos developed in a harsh pioneer environment where there was considerable reliance on hunting venison and the preserving and drying of ingredients In the Free State eat super-smart renditions of boerekos at Die Oudekraal Country Estate and attend their winter WildsKOS fees (venison festival), where you can sample over 80 dishes made using a variety of local game meats.

The use of Zulu and Basotho cooking methods and ingredients, such as mielie (maize) meal reveals social contact with local tribes as the Afrikaners trekked out of the Cape.

The boerekos food genre can be eaten at the Saturday Pretoria Boeremark (farmer’s market), or venues like Die Ou Handelshuis Koffiestoep (coffee place) in Rosendal, and Get Together in Bloemfontein.