Isitshwala sendaba!
A short history of isitshwala/ pap/ sadza eating in Zimbabwe : a brief thread
Maize is a very recent crop in Zimbabwe having been introduced first by Portueguese settlers then produced large scale by the British settlers to feed their livestock
@RealMzalaTom
A short history of isitshwala/ pap/ sadza eating in Zimbabwe : a brief thread
Maize is a very recent crop in Zimbabwe having been introduced first by Portueguese settlers then produced large scale by the British settlers to feed their livestock
@RealMzalaTom
Black Zimbabweans only started growing maize in 1928 after demo plots were set up in the reserves by ED Alvord. Before that white traders sold maize to black Rhodesians. By 1931 the whites were in an uproar demanding that Alvord be hung for teaching blacks how to grow maize
Alvord had developed organic techniques using composted kraal manure as fertiliser for maize, making it more productive and drought resistant. By 1931 rural blacks were producing significant maize harvests in the Fort Victoria ( Masvingo) area further angering white farmers
So strong was the opposition to blacks growing maize in Rhodesia that the superintendent of natives for Southern Mashonaland wrote a protest note saying Alvord by teaching blacks to grow maize was robbing white farmers of their living. Isitshwala/sadza had become a political war
Despite farming on maize only starting in 1928 in Mashonaland , it eventually became a national staple. My grandmother only ate isitshwala after the 1950s when it eventually reached Matabeleland. When you take a bite of that pap, appreciate it has a bit of a chequered history..
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