Grains are a staple and it is packed with nutrients, however, when it comes to indigenous grains such as sorghum, South Africans do not take enough advantage of the opportunities it offers.
This formed the crux of a thought-provoking conversation between Health For Mzansi publisher Ronelle Louwrens and renowned food activist, chef, and author, chef Mokgadi Itsweng, about the mighty potential of staple grains.
During the 2024 Mzansi Young Farmers Indaba in Pretoria North, held annually by our sister publication Food For Mzansi, Itsweng spoke about the versatility of indigenous grains in creating delicious and nutritious meals. She inspired the audience to reimagine the role of staple grains in their lives and communities, and motivated farmers to grow these crops and take advantage of the market potential.
The potential of indigenous grains
“The whole point of the chef manifesto is for us to move our communities to a more earth-friendly, climate-smart food system. So my whole thing revolves around indigenous foods and indigenous grains, especially sorghum, because it’s good for the planet, but it’s also good for our health.
“So we are trying to move more communities to be open to this indigenous, very powerful grain that has been part of our souls and part of who we are as Africans.”
Chef Mokgadi Itsweng
“It’s sad, however, that such a powerful grain is not on our plate. So part of what I do for the chef manifesto is to advocate for indigenous food, indigenous plants, and a climate-smart food system, which is why the plant-based cookbook that I brought out to show people in my community that being plant-based doesn’t mean you will spend lots of money on food; it just means wake up and eat what your grandmothers ate.”
Itsweng emphasised that people should realise that our lives shouldn’t revolve around material things and what the Western world tells us we should be eating.
“As Africans, we’ve lived with nature all our lives, so it’s just us remembering. So part of what I do is help people remember through recipes – recipes that I grew up eating, recipes that my grandmother created for me – by bringing them back to life, bringing them back into my human being in 2024, and getting everybody to eat them.
“So, for me, it’s about educating my community… about what’s sustainable, healthy, and what can help us move forward.”
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Millet and sorghum
Some traditional African grains she recommended incorporating into a healthy diet and that she believes should be farmed more because of their potential, include millet and sorghum.
“Millet and sorghum are the ones that have an opportunity for farmers to grow because they don’t need a lot of water, so that on its own says to me that this is a crop that can grow economically but also because the world wants them.”
Chef Mokgadi Itsweng
“Millets are sustainable, and they’re also good for the planet in that they are drought-resistant. Sorghum has been marketed as a superfood; in South Africa, sorghum grows naturally but we do not grow it. So the world wants it, but we don’t grow it. We know all these health properties that sorghum has, but we cannot access it.
“Can some people grow sorghum for dinner? As Africans, we mustn’t always be thinking international, but local. Also, what does the local market want? We want these grains; we want these indigenous vegetables, but we can’t access them,” she explained.
“Farmers, if you want to make something different or if you want to create an indigenous wave, start growing these ingredients. I promise you, people want these ingredients; they just don’t know how to access them. And if we don’t grow them, then we are going to get to a point where even our kids won’t know about these grains. They won’t know about this food because we’re not producing it.”
Highlighting steps that individuals and communities can take to support the preservation and promotion of African grains for health and sustainability reasons, Itsweng said it all starts with growing them and using them through cooking.
“We can start by growing them at home, but also by cooking and eating the food, because if we don’t eat it, then the stories and food end with my grandmother. So understanding and learning, and going back to the original recipes because they were amazing and delicious. They may be underrated, but they are very healthy.”
ALSO READ: Nurturing the land, nurturing health: Farmers’ well-being a priority
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