Lesotho

A Basotho dish of sheep feet slow-braised in an onion-and-spice broth until the gelatinous skin and tendons turn meltingly soft.

An opaque, lightly sour, low-alcohol fermented grain beer brewed by Basotho women from maize meal and malted sorghum, initiated with a live tomoso starter culture, and consumed young while still actively fermenting.

Leqebekoane is a Basotho steamed bread leavened with a naturally fermented maize-meal sourdough starter and cooked in a covered pot or basket over water.

A Basotho nose-to-tail dish of tripe and intestines slow-cooked with seasoning until the broth thickens into a rich gravy.

A Basotho dish of whole dried maize kernels boiled soft together with beans and seasoned simply with salt.

An ancestral Basotho unleavened wheat flatbread cooked directly on dry heat as an everyday staple bread.

Naturally fermented (soured) clotted milk from Lesotho, tangy and thick, eaten as an accompaniment to porridge and staples.

Deep-fried puffs of sweet yeasted dough, often studded with raisins and rolled in cinnamon sugar while hot, eaten as a Basotho snack.

A Lesotho preserve of sun-dried mixed vegetables with concentrated umami flavour, reconstituted to enrich stews and relishes.

A lactic-fermented sorghum soft porridge from Lesotho, set overnight with a back-slopped starter culture, then briefly cooked to a warm, pourable consistency with a distinctive clean sourness.

A Basotho dish of whole sorghum grains boiled together with beans, sometimes enriched with pumpkin, sold warm by street vendors.

A thick, stiff porridge made by stirring maize meal into boiling water and working it continuously until it firms into a dense, cohesive mass that pulls cleanly from the pot.

A Basotho dish of stiff maize-meal porridge eaten with a drizzle of soured fat or fermented milk.

A foundational Basotho everyday meal of stiff maize porridge (papa) plated alongside simply cooked wild or cultivated leafy greens (moroho), the two components eaten together as the complete dish.

Whole maize cobs roasted over open coals until charred and smoky, sold by roadside vendors as a snack.

Pounded dried maize kernels simmered together with dried beans until thick, soft and creamy, a hearty staple of Southern Africa.

A Basotho slow-braised stew of bone-in oxtail simmered for hours until the meat falls from the bone, traditionally served with greens and a beetroot salad.