The 10 most popular South African foods are biltong, boerewors, bobotie, potjiekos, pap, chakalaka, koeksisters, melktert, malva pudding and rusks. Ask ten South Africans in Canada what they miss most, and you will get those ten, in a slightly different order. Ask ten Canadians what South African food actually is, and most of them will say “biltong?” and then go quiet.
This post is for both of you. Each of the ten foods below gets two things: what it is, for the person who has never had it, and one line for the person who grew up with it and does not need it explained. Where we stock it, or stock what you need to make it, we say so.
1. Biltong
What it is: Air-dried beef. Whole cuts are cured in vinegar, salt and spice, then hung to dry at room temperature for days. It is never cooked and never smoked. The result is dense, savoury and slightly tangy, and it tastes like beef, not like a marinade. It is the one South African food that has properly crossed over, which is why it is the thing Canadians ask about first.
If you grew up with it: Saturday morning at the butcher, wrapped in paper, half of it gone before you got home.
At Bokkie’s: We make ours in Barrie from Ontario-raised beef, the same way it has been made since we opened in 2011. Original, Hunters or Chilli, fatty or lean, moist or dry, as slabs, sliced or sticks. Shop biltong.
2. Boerewors
What it is: A fresh, coarse-ground beef sausage, spiced with coriander and made in one long coil rather than links. The name means “farmer’s sausage” in Afrikaans. It is a braai food (that is, a barbecue over wood or charcoal, and also the social event around it), cooked whole on the grid and cut at the table. It is not dried. If someone offers you a boerewors roll, say yes.
If you grew up with it: The smell of the first coil hitting the grid is the smell of every public holiday you can remember.
At Bokkie’s: Boerewors rolls, flame-grilled and topped with caramelised onions and tomato relish, are on our braai catering menu for events across Barrie, Simcoe County and the GTA.
3. Bobotie
What it is: Spiced minced meat, usually beef or lamb, baked with a savoury egg custard on top. It sits somewhere between a shepherd’s pie and a curry: the meat is cooked with onion, curry powder, a little fruit and chutney, so it comes out sweet, spiced and mild rather than hot. It is served with yellow rice and, often, more chutney. Its roots are in Cape Malay cooking, and it is as close as South Africa gets to a national dish.
If you grew up with it: The bay leaves on top, always, and the argument about whether raisins belong in it.
At Bokkie’s: The two things a bobotie cannot do without are a proper curry powder and a fruit chutney. We stock Rajah curry powders in every strength and Mrs Balls Original Chutney, which is the chutney the recipe assumes.
4. Potjiekos
What it is: A slow-cooked stew made in a three-legged cast iron pot (the potjie) set directly over coals. Meat goes in first and browns, then vegetables are layered on top in the order they take to cook, and the lid stays on for hours. Pronounced “poy-kee-kos”, the word means “small pot food”.
If you grew up with it: Someone’s uncle guarding the pot with a beer, telling everyone it is “nearly ready” for three hours.
At Bokkie’s: We carry Best Duty potjie pots in sizes 2, 3, 4 and 6, the same cast iron pots you would buy at home. Most of what goes into one is on our shelves too: a packet of Royco or Knorr soup to thicken the gravy, a spoon of chutney, Aromat at the end. Browse Soups & Gravy and Sauces & Condiments.
5. Pap
What it is: A maize meal porridge, and the everyday staple of the country. Made stiff (stywe pap), it is eaten with the hands alongside a stew or with a braai. Made crumbly (krummelpap), it goes under a tomato and onion relish. Made soft, it is breakfast with milk and sugar. Canadians will recognise the idea from polenta or grits, but the texture and the flavour are their own. Samp, which is dried, cracked whole maize kernels, is its cousin, slow-cooked with beans as samp en boontjies.
If you grew up with it: Pap en wors at the braai, and a slice of it fried in butter the next morning.
At Bokkie’s: Iwisa Maize Meal and Iwisa Samp, plus Premier Braaipap for the coarser grind that holds up next to a braai. All on the Maize Meal & Samp shelf.
6. Chakalaka
What it is: A spiced vegetable relish of onion, tomato, carrot, peppers and beans, cooked with curry powder and chilli. It is eaten warm or cold, spooned over pap, next to boerewors, or straight out of the tin at a braai. Most South Africans buy it ready-made in a can, and the mild, hot and extra hot versions each have their loyalists.
If you grew up with it: The tin in the cooler box that somebody always forgot the opener for.
At Bokkie’s: Chakalaka in mild, hot and extra hot, and the Knorr chakalaka soup if you want the flavour in a pot.
7. Koeksisters
What it is: A plaited dough, deep-fried until golden and then dropped straight into ice-cold spiced syrup so the outside stays crisp and the inside soaks it up. Sticky, sweet and cold from the fridge. Pronounced “cook-sisters”.
If you grew up with it: The church bazaar table, sold by the dozen, gone by ten o’clock.
At Bokkie’s: We make our koeksisters fresh in store and ship them across Canada. Find them with the rest of our koeksisters and home bakes.
8. Melktert
What it is: Milk tart. A sweet pastry shell filled with a set, creamy custard made from milk, flour, sugar, and egg, dusted with cinnamon on top. It is lighter and less sweet than a custard tart or a crème brûlée, and it is served cold. It has been on South African tables since the Dutch settlers, and there is a national day for it in February.
If you grew up with it: Your ouma’s (that is, your grandmother’s) version in the fridge on a Sunday, and the cinnamon pattern she made with a fork.
At Bokkie’s: This is one you make. The ingredients are ordinary; the recipe and the patience are not.
9. Malva pudding
What it is: A baked sponge pudding made with apricot jam, served hot with a warm cream sauce poured over it while it is still in the tin, so it soaks in. Rich, caramel-sweet and spongy. It is the dessert South Africans bring out for visitors, and the one that most reliably converts Canadians.
If you grew up with it: Custard or ice cream, and the family divided permanently on which.
At Bokkie’s: The jam is the ingredient that matters. All Gold Smooth Apricot Jam is the one most recipes are written for.
10. Rusks
What it is: Twice-baked bread, dried out in a low oven until it is hard and dry enough to keep for weeks. You do not eat them dry. You dunk them in coffee or rooibos tea until they soften, then eat them quickly before the bottom falls in. Buttermilk is the classic flavour; muesli, condensed milk and raisin versions all have their followers. In Afrikaans, they are beskuit.
If you grew up with it: The Ouma tin on the counter, and being told off for dunking twice.
At Bokkie’s: Ouma Buttermilk Rusks and the rest of the range on our Rusks shelf. Pair them with Freshpak Rooibos, which is the other half of the ritual.
The one that is not a dish
Mrs Balls chutney is not a food so much as the condiment that goes on all of them. Peach-based, sweet and tangy, it has been on South African tables for generations, and it appears in bobotie, on boerewors, next to a curry and on a cheese sandwich. If you are building a South African pantry in Canada, it goes in the first order. Mrs Balls chutney, all the varieties.
Where to get South African food in Canada
We have been supplying South Africans in Canada since 2011 from our shop in Barrie, Ontario. Our biltong and koeksisters are made in-house. Everything else on this list, from Iwisa to Ouma to Mrs Balls, is on the shelf and ships across Canada in one box. Shop the full South African store, or visit us in Barrie.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most popular South African food?
Biltong. It is the one South African food that people outside the country know by name, and the one South Africans abroad miss first. Boerewors and pap are close behind, and at any braai you will usually find all three.
What is South Africa’s national dish?
Bobotie is the dish most often called South Africa’s national dish: spiced minced meat baked with an egg custard topping, served with yellow rice and chutney. Braai, boerewors and pap have equally strong claims, depending on who you ask.
Is South African food spicy?
Some of it. Cape Malay dishes like bobotie use curry spices for flavour rather than heat, and most braai food is not hot at all. Chakalaka, peri-peri sauce and the Durban curry tradition are where the real heat lives.
Can I buy South African food in Canada?
Yes. Bokkie’s Biltong in Barrie, Ontario stocks a full South African grocery range, from biltong made in-house to Ouma Rusks, Mrs Balls, Iwisa maize meal and Freshpak Rooibos, and ships anywhere in Canada.