Bordering on food aggression!
The Gardener|November 2023
The economy, fires, drought, Russians, fuel prices, and politicians, dictated what we ate in my youth. The only exception was that Eskom worked...
Anna Cellliers
Bordering on food aggression!

While sitting on the stoep moaning about life’s difficulties (after a communal reading of the Sunday newspapers with each other’s reading glasses and acid commentary on its content, and especially the price of food nowadays), our old friend’s eyes closed as if in prayer. We respectfully shut up, thinking that he was in conversation with the Higher Order, but then he opened them up and said with a heavy sigh: “I so long for my mother’s lightly curried tripe!” I replied that I would rather eat freshly mown kikuyu grass than the organs and other odds and sods just before the tail end of any food animal – thereby reserving my favourites, oxtail and fatty sheep tails.

We then moved on to ‘smileys’ – whole sheep heads – which he regards as the next best thing to eat, mentioning all its parts like the brains, the tongue, the eyes and the cheeks in gory detail. I shivered in abhorrence and told him that I once dumped a boyfriend (who I thought could be a future husband), due to his uncle’s habit of eating a sheep’s head every day for lunch, and requesting afterwards that I scratch his hairy back for a fee of 10 cents before he takes his afternoon nap.

My current husband drily remarked that he only remembers government bread and Koo’s apricot jam as a measure of keeping the ‘wolf at the door of poverty’ away, day in and day out. Not to be outdone, I regaled them with my Grandma’s tricks to feed a family in the 50s and early 60s when money was tight. Since Grandpa worked at an abattoir, he came home with things which in those days were regarded as ‘waste’.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 2023 من The Gardener.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 2023 من The Gardener.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من THE GARDENER مشاهدة الكل
FIRE AND Feathers!
The Gardener

FIRE AND Feathers!

On a dreary winter's day, a screen of fiery and feathery leaves puts up a fight against dullness!

time-read
2 mins  |
July/August 2024
GET THE ladies in!
The Gardener

GET THE ladies in!

At this time of year, early-flowering shrubs vie with each other to get the most attention. We say: Trust those with female names for frills and butterflies. They go the extra mile to flower their hearts out.

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2024
Vegetable Soups and dumplings
The Gardener

Vegetable Soups and dumplings

Vegetables make the most delicious soups and classic combinations are always a winner.

time-read
4 mins  |
July/August 2024
Yummy sweet potatoes for your good health
The Gardener

Yummy sweet potatoes for your good health

Boiled, baked or braaied, sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a delicious and healthy winter comfort food. Just a dollop of butter, a little seasoning and you are good to go.

time-read
3 mins  |
July/August 2024
Pretty and functional
The Gardener

Pretty and functional

If cooking is your main thing, you would probably be more interested in the culinary value of the three herbs and some of their varieties we are describing.

time-read
5 mins  |
July/August 2024
Dried Seedheads & Pods
The Gardener

Dried Seedheads & Pods

Autumn and winter are the best times to see what flowers produce the best seedheads that can be left on the plants to feed the birds and bugs and for harvesting for dried arrangements.

time-read
4 mins  |
July/August 2024
SO MANY FACES and so many choices...
The Gardener

SO MANY FACES and so many choices...

Whoever associated a Cotyledon orbiculata (pig's ear) with the ear of a pig obviously did not know about all the varieties and cultivars this species in the genus Cotyledon has.

time-read
3 mins  |
July/August 2024
COLOURFUL Cold Weather WINNERS!
The Gardener

COLOURFUL Cold Weather WINNERS!

If it comes to a vote, these dependable shrubs will be the top candidates for prime performance in winter and in other seasons...

time-read
5 mins  |
July/August 2024
What makes a garden sustainable?
The Gardener

What makes a garden sustainable?

It is interesting to note that the United Nations defines sustainable development as: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

time-read
4 mins  |
July/August 2024
Nurturing NATURE-The Story of Kraal Garden's Transformation
The Gardener

Nurturing NATURE-The Story of Kraal Garden's Transformation

Nestled within Prince Albert's rustic embrace lies a gem that is a testament to the transformative power of human vision and nature's bounty.

time-read
4 mins  |
July/August 2024