Sorghum queen shows unknown side of African grain

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Sorghum can be made into much more than beer and porridge, something that 26-year-old Zandile Finxa is showing South Africans and the world.

Finxa, a consumer and food sciences graduate from the University of Pretoria, is passionate about getting South Africans to think differently about our indigenous produce. Finxa, from Sebokeng in the Vaal, is a researcher, consumer scientist and a recipe developer and she’s currently based in Cape Town where she works for a retailer.

Her passion for indigenous food was sparked when during the course of her studies they learnt about African food but she felt that the time spent on it was too short.  As a class they focused on African food for about one to two weeks, significantly less time she feels than was spent on other cuisines.

Finxa felt that the rest of the world’s cuisines were well mapped out with information on how the people made it, who the people were that made it and manipulate it and its origins.

“With us, it’s sort of like our food didn’t have a voice. When I had the chance in final year to help conceptualise a dinner for African indigenous food, I made sure to include sorghum, as not a lot of people were familiar with it.

"And even prior to that in my product development class when everyone was creating products using wheat as a grain, which is not even indigenous to South Africa, I just felt it would be more convenient to look at what is indigenous to us and maybe highlight that we don’t have to negate our food just to enjoy it.”

Finxa then made some biscuits and cookies using sorghum and she hasn’t looked back since.  

“That created this whole snowball effect of that the more products I used with sorghum or any indigenous grain, the more I started to realise that people don’t have the language around the food and they don’t have the information about the food and they’re not even familiar with the food. “  

Finxa feels that as a nation we should find out more about our indigenous grains, plants and foods. Lots of South Africans still believe that maize is one of our indigenous produces, but it isn’t. It’s an import from the Americas which has become engrained in our diet.

There are other grains that Finxa has experimented with in her cooking, such as pess, a small grain which resembles quinoa that is used in porridge making and baking. She says it can be used in any recipe that requires flour. She also uses fonio, a nutty flavoured grain that can be made into a porridge among one of its uses.

There are many benefits to cultivating and consuming indigenous foods. The more we plant, the more accessible it will be for the majority. Food that is indigenous to us is also great for our health.

“Every nation’s bodies are suited for food that grows in that area, that’s why you find food intolerances [in people] because our bodies are not used to certain foods. It comes from our lineages, it comes from people who ate a certain diet and when you suddenly chop and change it you do get the ramifications of that.”

Finxa says that eating indigenous food helps the gut, the body and that most of our indigenous foods and plants are already gluten free etc.

Eating our indigenous food also improves the local economy as a lot of small-scale farmers of the produce are rural or community farmers. So the more we consume, the healthier the local economy.

“What you put on your plate can help somebody else put something on their plates.”

Finxa feels that it would help if  the government subsidised more projects around indigenous food growing.  As for what the public can do, she says they can start buying produce from local farmers. It will require research but the pay-off is phenomenal.

Finxa has made nachos with sorghum, as well as waffles, pancakes, muffins and even cake. She has supplied us with a salad recipe using sorghum just to get you started thinking about it in a different way.

LOADED SORGHUM SALAD

SERVES: 4-6

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Sorghum grain, soaked 8 hours overnight

½ cup sundried tomato pesto

1 large finely chopped broccoli, raw

1 small packet sundried tomatoes

1 cup black and green olives, de-seeded and cut into quarters

½ cup Danish feta

¼ cup diced red onion

TT Salt and pepper

METHOD

1. Cook the sorghum grains until soft as per pack instructions.
2. Toss the cooked sorghum grains into the sundried tomato pesto, until evenly coated.
3. Decant the dressed sorghum onto a serving platter or bowl.
4. Top with the broccoli, sundried tomatoes, olives, feta and onion.

Season to taste with freshly cracked sea salt and black pepper, and enjoy