SOUTH AFRICA'S PICKLED FISH - HISTORY

Where does the South African tradition of eating pickled fish at Easter come from?

It's origin can be traced back to the early days at the Cape. One of the earliest known recipes is from Marie CLOETE, a wealthy Cape landowner in the 1700s, who left her handwritten recipe for future generations. Lady Anne BARNARD visited Meerlust farm in 1798 and wrote that she was served “fish of the nature of cod, pickled with turmarick”.

In 1653, a year after the Dutch East India Company established a refreshment station at the Cape, the first slaves were imported from Batavia (present-day Jakarta). The Muslim women were often cooks and were known for their use of spices, especially those from the East. Slaves came mostly from the East Indies - India, Indonesia and Malaya - they became known as Cape Malays and brought with them a range of skills like millinery, cobbling, masonry, and fragrant cooking. 

Over time, it became a Cape Malay tradition for families to spend the four-day Easter weekend camping near the Kramat (Faure) along the banks of the Eerste River in Macassar. They took food with them that did not need to be refrigerated – typically pickled fish, which could be kept in glass bottles or earthenware jars for up to a week. In those days fish was plentiful and affordable. 

A Kramat is where the holy men of Islam where laid to rest when they died. These men were often exiled to Cape from other Dutch colonies. Sheikh Yusuf is regarded as the founder of Islam in South Africa. He was an Indonesian royal who was exiled to Cape Town via Ceylon in 1694, after a failed uprising against the Dutch. His Kramat is visited by Muslim followers as part of a pilgrimage to pay their respects. 

Another story of origin that links to Easter stems from the fishermen not going out to sea during the holy week. Without daily fresh fish, people preserved fresh fish by pickling in spiced sauce.

Pickled fish is made with firm, white fish pan-fried or oven-baked before being covered in a curried pickling sauce with lots of sliced onions. It is left for 3 to 5 days before being eaten cold. It is also known as kerrievis, piekelvis or ingeledge vis in Afrikaans. The preferred fish is geelbek (Cape salmon) or geelstert (yellowtail), although hake and snoek is also used.

Some people batter the fish before cooking it, others don't. Some people cook it and then put it in the sauce, others cook it in the sauce. 

It is always eaten cold, usually accompanied by bread and butter. Some people serve it with fresh bread and hanepootkonfyt (sweet grape jam). These days many people eat their pickled fish with hot cross buns. 

It is enjoyed, especially at Easter, by Muslims, Christians, and non-religious people all over South Africa.

OLDEST FRUIT CAKE IN THE WORLD?

Graaff-Reinet has a new claim to fame. Eira MAASDORP, owner of Reinet Antiques, believes that she may have the world's oldest surviving fruit cake. Eira bought the old house on the corner of Church and Somerset Streets twenty-four years ago. After restoring the house, she opened her antiques shop there. While cleaning out the loft during renovations, she found the cake under a glass cover. She put it on display as part of the building‘s history. Eira received a photograph of Frans and Carolina TE WATER's golden wedding anniversary in 1902. In the photo, there is a cake that Eira believes matches the cake she found. Frans Carel TE WATER and Carolina Theodora MULLER were married in Graaff-Reinet on 05 April 1852. Frans was born in Brussels in 1824 and arrived at the Cape in 1850 from Belgium. He became a town councillor and businessman in Graaff-Reinet. His first marriage was to Jacomina Jacoba VAN RENSBURG in December 1848. She was the widow of Johan Georg KREBS.. Jacomina died circa 1851 and there were no children of that marriage. Carolina was born in 1828 in Baeufort West, the daughter of Thomas Nicholas Germain MULLER and Hendrina Helena RABIE. Frans and Carolina had nine children. Frans died in December 1913 and Carolina in June 1904.

BOOK REVIEW

DIE GESKIEDENIS VAN BOEREKOS: 1652 — 1806
Author: Hester Wilhelmina Claassens
Publisher: Protea Boekhuis, Pretoria, 2006
This 516-page Afrikaans book looks at the history of boerekos (farmer’s food) at the Cape. The term boerekos dates back to at least 1751, when it appears in a report dated the 14th May from the Cape church council to Amsterdam. Mention is made of a minister who is recuperating in the Swartland by “boerekost te eaten”. The author, Hettie Claassens (72) of Pretoria, researched the topic for a doctorate in cultural history from the University of Pretoria. She consulted archival records and looked at the work of people such as C. Louis LEIPOLDT, Hildagonda DUCKITT, E.J. DIJKMAN and Renata COETZEE. Long-standing beliefs about the origins of some recipes are debunked. Her research started in 1986 and she received her degree in 2004. After studying at the Cape Technikon, she became a domestic science teacher. She later studied Afrikaans linguistics through Unisa, obtaining a Masters with a thesis on the language usage of the BUYS families of Mara.