Discover and respect the shisanyama culture
HAVING started off as a way for township butcheries to increase their weekend sales, shisanyama outlets have grown in popularity and have become sizzling businesses.
It’s a place where people go to relax, socialise, read the papers, have meat braaied for them while they listen to good local music and catch up with friends. Shisanyamas are fast competing with established restaurants and fast food outlets and the culture has grown so much, that there’s even an annual Shisanyama Festival in Durban, which awards the best shisanyama establishments in the city. Last year’s winner was Bless Makhanya’s Café Skyzer.
From the beginning, I am sure the founders have always worked to ensure that the very best service is provided, ensuring that their patrons needs are met at all times.
But there comes a time when people take advantage of those services being offered to them and use them wrongly.
I believe a shisanyama outlet is just like any other established eatery that has its customer rules which people should put up with.
I frequent shisanyamas weekly and the things that people do, bother me. Some people clearly have no respect for shisanyama culture and tend to spoil the fun for everyone else. If you haven’t been to a shisanyama (you really need to go, at least once a year), these are my tips on how to behave yourself so that you have a good time.
Five Common Mistakes People Need To Stop Doing At Shisanyamas:
People not washing their hands before eating
It’s basic courtesy and good hygiene. The culture of shisanyama is all about communal eating. We eat from the same wooden board, so please make sure your hands are clean, especially those people who love cutting meat.
Licking fingers when you are finished eating
At every shisanyama place there is a bucket of water with soap and a cloth offered after you have finished eating and serviettes. They are provided for a reason, so use them. Licking fingers is not hygienic.
Using a table cloth to wipe your hands
A table cloth is used to cover the table but here you are using it to wipe your hands after you have finished eating. Just a head’s up: at some shisanyama places, a table cloth is never clean, because people use it to wipe their hands after eating, so rather be on the safe side and wash your hands.
Overspending
You may find this funny, but people do end up spending their last cash. Most shisanyama places these days have bars and live DJs. Sometimes the plan is to go to a place just to fix that shisanyama craving.
After eating you will need at least one drink just to level your stomach of course, but once the DJ gets you on your feet, forget that you will be leaving any time soon.
So when planning on going to a shisanyama spot make sure you have enough money for meat, drinks, and most importantly, transport.
We asked some of Durban’s top shisanyama owners on their patron pet peeves:
Bonga Shange – Mashamplanez Lounge, Chesterville
“After using the knives people take the knives with them, every week I have to buy new knives.
“There are two cloths offered at my place after people are done eating, a hand cloth and a table cloth, but people end up wiping the table with the wrong cloth.
Ice buckets always go missing; people take the buckets with them to their cars and leave with them when they are done using them.
“There are both male and female toilets but males never use their toilet room, they always find a hidden corner to urinate in, causing a smell at the back of the yard.”
Jabulani Zama – Eyadini Lounge, Umlazi
“Some customers are impatient. They do not understand that a shisanyama place is different from a restaurant. They will demand their meat to be ready within a few minutes, which is not always possible. That’s why we always tell people the exact time to come and fetch their meat.
Other people will lose their payment slip and come demand their meat without proof that they did really buy the meat. Some customers are arrogant in a way that they look down upon the people who work at a shisanyama, forgetting that they are the same people making sure their needs are met. People sometimes ask for plates instead of the meat board (isithebe) which then takes away that whole shisanyama vibe.”
Lunga Mkhize – Metro Gents, Umlazi
“There are people who always want special treatment, for example; if the person does not eat red meat he or she will not want their meat being grilled at the same place where the red meat was grilled, sometimes it’s really not possible at some establishments.
There are some people who want their meat served already in small cuts and we cannot do that. People should cut their own meat so they can feel that they are in a shisanyama place – it’s part of the culture. After they have finished eating some people would request a hand sanitiser for their hands which we do not supply. We offer our patrons a bucket with water and soap. A shisanyama place is different from a restaurant therefore they will be killing the whole shisanyama culture if we give them hand sanitisers.”