The cuisine of

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

is largely determined by the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

s and the

geographical region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Staple food A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and ...

s in Eswatini include

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

and maize, often served with goat meat, a very popular livestock there. The farming industry mainly depends on sugar cane, tobacco, rice,

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, peanuts, and the exportation of goat meat and beef. Many Swazis are

subsistence farmers Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

who supplement their diet with food bought from markets. Produce and imports from coastal nations are also part of the cuisine of Eswatini ."Swaziland Food and Dining"
. iExplore (website). Accessed May 2010. Some local markets have food stalls with traditional Swazi meat stew, sandwiches, maize meal and seasonal roasted

corn on the cob Corn on the cob is a culinary term for a cooked :wikt:ear#earofcorn, ear of sweet corn (maize) eaten directly off the corncob, cob. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the caryopsis, kernels are still tender. E ...

Traditional foods

Traditional foods of Eswatini include: * ''Sishwala''—thick

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...

normally served with

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

or vegetables * ''Incwancwa''—sour porridge made of fermented cornmeal * ''Sitfubi''—fresh milk cooked and mixed with cornmeal * ''Siphuphe setindlubu''—thick porridge made of mashed ground nuts * ''Emasi etinkhobe temmbila''—ground

mixed with

sour milk Soured milk denotes a range of food products produced by the acidification of milk. Acidification, which gives the milk a tart taste, is achieved either through bacterial fermentation or through the addition of an acid, such as lemon juice or vineg ...

* ''Emasi emabele''—ground

mixed with sour milk * ''Sidvudvu''—porridge made of

pumpkin A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...

mixed with cornmeal * ''Umncweba''—dried uncooked meat ('' biltong'') * ''Siphuphe semabhontjisi''—thick porridge made of mashed

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

s * ''Tinkhobe''—boiled whole maize * ''Umbidvo wetintsanga''—cooked pumpkin tops (leaves) mixed with ground

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

s * ''Emahewu''—meal drink made from fermented thin porridge * ''Umcombotsi''—traditional brewed beer in Siswati is called ''tjwala''

References

{{Swaziland-stub

Traditional foods

See also

References