Chicken heads and feet.... food for thought.

It was a camp at the coastal campsite in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The young people were divided into groups, each with a child care worker as a group leaded. A group of senior boys was allocated to me.

 In the programme was an exercise in which each group was given a specific sum of money in cash. They were to buy the ingredients  they could afford from this and cook a full evening meal for the group.

A small team of selected people then judged the meal on the basis of appearance, suitability ,taste and the effectiveness of the way in which the budget was used. My group had money left over.

 The group decided on a dish made of chicken feet and heads  - -it was economical, culturally appropriate and tasty they said. I was to sit with my group for this meal and eat with them.

A question often asked of me is whether I eat "African" food. My response is always the same...  "yes".

The big test is usually posed in the next question...."do you eat Mopane worms"? (a type of tree grub). These I have enjoyed - especially when properly prepared. Unclean tripe - the same.  I of course knew about "walkers and talkers", heads and feet, but had not yet ventured into the dish. This was a first for me, and I HAD to support my group of boys...... "hooters and scooters".....  here goes !!!.

My group won

This, again, was an experience of learning cultural competence for me, as an adult, culturally long separated from my African brothers and sisters because of the realities of living in an Apartheid South Africa. And although Nelson Mandela on his release from incarceration said, " never again", many of us are left, even now, with the effects of cultural separation. This must not be allowed to happen to our children and young people today. In multi-cultural programs, and especially in residential programs we are ideally positioned to create opportunities for cultural learning and the development of cultural competence. Food is the least of our problems really, but it in our programs it still creeps in to colour long standing stereotypes and prejudices.

Whenever this question was asked of children and young people in residential treatment, the answer was always the same....

The question?  " Apart from missing your family, what do you miss most about being separated from home?."

The answer.  " My mothers cooking - she makes the best...............(whatever)

Participation appears to be something of a buzzword right now and in a multi-cultural setting in Africa, real participation seems to me to pose particular cultural competence learning adjustments and acceptances.

But let's focus now only on food ....and I'm not talking of Mopane worms on Heritage Day.

"Did your mother teach you how to cook that? Can your mother come in and show us how to do that.... prepare our meal? Can we sit down together and plan a the month's menu together... we can call it a "rainbow menu for "rainbow people". Can our central kitchen with its kitchen supervisor be part of this planning and talking together about food with the children. Are children or a parent going to be allowed into the kitchen anyway? Can we accommodate to having real child and family participation in what is prepared and eaten?"

hmmmmmm .... food for thought.