African meals celebrated

Aspiring chefs at Prodigies Culinary School Polokwane took time to explore and make African dishes as part of commemorating and celebrating Heritage Day.
On the day, learners prepared chicken feet, more affectionately known as the runaways in the local markets.
They served the dish with beans, chakalaka and dombolo referred to as ‘steam bread’ in modern society.
The chicken feet meal forms part of the South African heritage. This is the most preferred meal in most of the rural villages in the province.
They are often eaten as a snack and it is one of the preferred dish served during traditional ceremonies and weddings.
Bukola Falodun, Founder of Chef Prodigees Culinary School said they chose to prepare the chicken feet meal to concientise learners about some of the traditional meals that dominated the African dinner tables in the past years.
“We could have chosen any other recipe but we choose the chicken feet because they have strong links with the African heritage. Most of the learners don’t know how to prepare the dish and we wanted to teach them how. The advantage with the dish is that learners can play around with the recipe. Traditionally the feet were only served with porridge but now it can be served with anything,” Falodum said.
One of the students at the school, Londani Madadzhe said he enjoyed preparing the chicken feet.
“It was my first time preparing and eating chicken feet. I must say the feet are not as bad as they look. They actually taste nice and I like the combination of them, beans and dombolo.”

Story: Herbert Rachuene