Some Points About South Africa: Food Edition

** First, a note of explanation to tell everyone who's been asking for new posts: I haven't had much internet for the last two weeks, but am now set up on my own laptop, so more frequent posts will be coming in the future. In fact, I'm a little backlogged right now, so there may even be several very shortly. Enjoy! **

I decided that I need to explain what has been a big part of my experience to this point: food. So here are a few tidbits that might explain a little more about what I've been eating (and drinking).


In one sentence: there is too much juice, meat, cheese, and this beast of a thing called “marmite”.


First, I am pretty sure I’ve drank about 18 gallons of various kinds of juice since I’ve been here. You may think that’s an exaggeration, and it most likely is, but still, being served juice with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at various points throughout the day has made my life resemble that of a 2nd grader.

Second, meat is the staple food in South Africa. Some societies eat bread, some eat rice, but South Africans are crazy about meat, specifically barbecue or “braai.” Here the saying would go, “have a braai, and the people will come.” The notion of “too much braai” is a foreign concept in these parts, as the fact that one can find braais going on every night demonstrates. Braai is such a cultural institution, that it is literally built INTO the structure of buildings. Most dorms on campus have built-in barbecues all around. And when I say barbecues, I'm not talking about those flimsy ones in parks, but full-on wood burning broilers that you could grill a whole cow on and still have room to throw on a few sausages. So yeah, it's been meat meat meat, usually in sausage form.

Thirdly, the problem with all the cheese isn’t so much the quantities or even the frequency of when it is served, instead I would say that South Africans see cheese as being able to go with anything, at any point in the day, even by itself. A croissant for breakfast? Sprinkle some cheddar on there. Want a sandwich for lunch? How about a baguette with cheddar. That’s it. Nothing else. That’s all we have. Cheddar. Grated or sliced. With anything. All the time. Not only would being vegetarian be completely impossible, but vegans would most likely get run out of town as people hurled sausages and blocks of cheese at them.

Lastly, the bit about marmite goes specifically to Mom, who taught me that it’s good to try new things. What follows is a cautionary tale. So a South African friend one day was raving about how he can eat marmite with anything. He was going on and on about how great it was, that I thought, well hey, why not? So I gave the jar a quick whiff. Being utterly disgusted with the result, I began to have second thoughts. Joe, however, insisted that it is simply heavenly on a piece of toast. So I spread the tar-like substance on some toast, and with great trepidation took a bite. It literally took ALL of my powers of self control not to immediately spew the foul concoction onto my plate.
“What the crap is this stuff, Joe?”
“Oh, it’s made from concentrated vegetable extract.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“Don’t worry, they love it in England.”
That’s reassuring.

So in a few words, that has been 5% of my experience so far in South Africa. More will definitely keep coming. Potentially very soon. As in I am now going to start writing my next post.

Quick update

This isn't meant to be anything more than just a really quick word about my trip so far. I landed safely and am now settling in to my new home in Stellenbosch. To describe my first impression, all I can say is: I LOVE IT. The beauty, the weather, the landscape, the people, it's all pretty much the most awesome thing ever. I really like my program and the people on it. I ate springbok last night, which is kind of like an antelope (it tastes like beef). Anyways, I'll be updating this more next week as I get more settled in, but for now, all I can say is...

Stellenbosch freakin rocks.

Living the dream

Well folks, for one week I will be living the dream that is the fleeting ideal of every college student: to be at college with absolutely NO work. You've got friends, all the free time in the world, and even all your meals cooked for you. I suppose that actually finding ways to get free meals in the dining hall when you have no meal plan is the hardest part, but that's no big deal really. I've simply been pulling either the "Aroop method" or what I will call the "fake guest meal method." Both work only in Paresky. The Aroop method simply entails waiting until the line is going out the door and the card swipers are too busy to notice you walking out with your tray of food, being screened by the line of people. The fake guest meal method entails finding someone who was abroad in the fall (or someone with no guest meals left) and having them guest you at the front. As soon as the card swiper sees you, you just walk out while they perform the card swipe. It takes them a minute to realize that this person actually has no guest meals, by which time you're long gone and have found yourself another free meal. I suppose you could just actually find someone to give you a real guest meal, but that's just no fun. And also, it's not like I haven't already paid for these meals (in a way). Whatever, Williams has plenty of $$$.

Anyways, back to the living of the dream that is my life currently.

So far, I've just been taking time to enjoy all the things that I never had time for during the semester: working out in the gym, watching Planet Earth, and hanging out with friends. It is a little strange sometimes feeling like I don't belong here or getting someone who says, "Hey Carl, what are you doing here, I thought you were going to South Africa?" The explanation of "Oh, you know, I'm just here for a while.... hanging out" seems to only bring on jealousy. Of all the times I could have been here with no work, January was definitely the best time to come. Everyone is nearly in the same boat as I am: on campus with (practically) no work to do and loads of free time to spend (or waste) on shenanigans. But in my opinion, what some might call "wasting time" is the best way to spend Winter "Study."

And thus I will enjoy passing my time on campus reveling in the leisure and relaxation of Williams during Winter Study. Though, the thought that I will be in Stellenbosch in just a few more days is pretty exciting on the one hand, but also a little inconceivable too. It doesn't really register in my mind quite yet, how drastic of a change the experience will be. I guess I'll just have to wait until I get there. Until Sunday...

Almost on my way

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my blog of my semester studying in South Africa. Right now I'm still at home in Claremont enjoying Christmas Break, but two weeks from now I'll be surrounded by the Cape Dutch architecture of Stellenbosch. I have roughly four days left at home, then I'll be heading to Williamstown for the week of Jan 13-19. From there, my journey to South Africa will commence as I'll make my way back to New York where I'll be taking a non-stop flight from JFK to Johannesburg. One more short flight will get me to Cape Town, and from there it's just a short ride outside the city to Stellenbosch.





As you can probably guess, I am SO excited to go! I simply can't fathom the experiences I will soon be having and how profoundly they will affect me. I expect that in going to South Africa, I will be confronted with an array of challenging issues that will be hard to stomach at times. But in a way, that is the reason I am going. While South African society has many problems, it is also experiencing great changes. It is at a crossroads, and how it proceeds from here will have a drastic impact on its future. It will require the commitment and dedication of everyone in its multi-ethnic and multi-faceted society to move forward.



Over the last few weeks, I have been reading on the life of Desmond Tutu and his work on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the dismantlement of apartheid in 1994. For me, it has been difficult reading about the atrocities and gross human rights violations of the oppressive white Afrikaner regime. It makes me wonder how such ghastly acts could be committed by humans against one another. And what is more, that they would profess to be Christians and attempt to construct theological frameworks to uphold their injustices is sickening. In a way, it is into that environment that I will soon be going.




I go with tremendous hope, though. I have hope that through the reconciliation and amnesty process that has been ongoing for over a decade, South Africa will be able to move itself forward into a new era of peace, equality and prosperity. Living and learning in Stellenbosch will be a strange experience, I imagine, as the various forces of change and resistance to change will clash head on in this town that sits in the middle of "Afrikanerdom." The many contradictions and disparities will be unsettling, but one must realize that real change takes time and perseverance. Seeing the work done by men such as Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Steven Biko, and Bayers Naude (a white minister who graduated from Stellenbosch, famous for his anti-apartheid activism), has shown that South Africa's future will be brighter than its past.

As I said before, I am definitely excited for what my semester will bring. I know that I will probably become very busy with the various things I will be doing, but I will try my best to keep this blog updated with my latest thoughts and experiences. I am aiming for (roughly) weekly updates. I'll also try to add pictures and videos of whatever I can to give a glimpse of the beauty and richness that is South Africa. Thanks for reading my blog!

Until next time!

Much love,
Carl