In South Africa there are a group of people who are known as the Afrikaans and they are settlers who came to South Africa in the late 1800s and were mostly from dutch descent but there are also some from German and French descent. When they settled they needed a way of preserving meat since there was no refrigeration or ice to freeze meat and preserve it. Their solution was to put salt and different spices on the meat and then hang it in a dry dark place thus creating biltong.
The purpose of having Biltong now in modern times is for snacking on since we can now preserve meats better ways. There really is no specific right time to eat biltong because you can eat it anytime of the day. It is usually eaten during social occasions and during rugby games. I feel like it also serves a purpose of bringing people of the Afrikaans culture closer together as biltong is unique to our culture.
The practice of making biltong is passed on from generation to generation mostly from the fathers to their sons. I learned how to make this from watching my mom and dad make it and asking questions along the way. We also make the drying box that we use to dry the biltong in. I think it is important that this tradition be alive in my culture as it helps my family and I connect with our culture and where we came from.
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Preserving meat is done in so many cultures in the world. In Canada, a favourite is smoked salmon. First done by Indigenous peoples, it's now considered a delicacy and has been adopted by Quebecers who call it lox and eat it on bagels with cream cheese. While I don't care for jerky, my husband, who is Dutch, loves having it around. My own family will preserve cucumbers (pickles) and make jams and other preserves. Spending all of that time preparing the food and then waiting for it to be done helps us to appreciate the effort our ancestors had to go through to survive in less than ideal conditions. Although we can easily buy these things from a store, I think you will agree that homemade is better. What is your favourite type of meat to dry and eat? What spices do you prefer?
ReplyDeleteIt is very cool that you are a descendant of the Afrikaans and that you now how to make biltong it sounds very good and if you could bring some in I would like to have some biltong
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