freedom taste of
Nelson Mandela’s personal chef collects the leader’s faves
Even Nelson Mandela has a sweet tooth. At 94, South Africa’s most famous head of state still likes to indulge in dessert. “He’ll be discouraging the children, saying fruit should be the only thing that you can eat,” says his longtime personal chef Xoliswa (pronounced Ko-lees-wah) Ndoyiya.
But serve Malva pudding — a baked treat topped with ice cream or custard — or strawberry trifle and the former political powerhouse “just eats it up.”
Ndoyiya, a Queenstown native, has been cooking for Mandela since 1992. Her job interview consisted of just one question: “Can you cook our home food?”
Well-versed in making traditional South African fare, Ndoyiya was as hired immediately.
“Ukutya Kwasekhaya,” or home food in their shared first language of Xhosa, became the title of Ndoyiya’s debut cookbook, a collection of Mandela’s favorite recipes.
Despite his status as a globetrotting statesmen, Mandela has always craved the flavors he e grew up with. Featured recipes include umphokoqo, a porridge made of maize meal and sour milk, and sweet chicken — a beloved dish that turns dinner into o a “competition,” writes granddaughter Nandi Mandela.
“Up to this day, Mr. Mandela has been eating the food he usually ate when he was still a young boy,” says Ndoyiya. “It reminds him of his own mother, who used to cook that.”
That might be true, but it’s obvious that Mandela is also quite fond of Ndoyiya herself. When he was frequently traveling as South Africa’s president, Mandela would miss her cooking so much he once had her umphokoqo shipped to London. Under his employ, the chef has also made dinner for guests including Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, who came into the kitchen to say thank you.
As he ages, Mandela has gotten more health-conscious, but since many of his favorite meals are simply prepared, he’s still able to eat the foods he enjoys most.
“The only thing he doesn’t want to see on his plate is oil,” Ndoyiya says.
Ndoyiya put together “Ukutya Kwasekhaya” with help from Anna Trapido, a writer who chronicled Mandela’s life from a culinary standpoint in a biography called “Hunger for Freedom.”
Over a recent lunch in midtown, Trapido and Ndoyiya, both in New York City for the first time, spoke about the importance of food to Mandela.
“There are lots of very good biographies about b tM Mandela, d l but b t almost l t all of them are written by men and all of them are very straight political biographies,” says Trapido. “They’re not looking at the personal and intimate.”
In addition to interviewing Mandela’s fellow Robben Island inmates, Trapido also looked into milestones like Mandela’s first date and his marriage to Winnie Mandela.
“At every stage, I found the key actors and then I got them to describe the culinary context in which the epic political events were happening,” says Trapido. “I would interview these important political figures [who] would tell me about these epic events in the struggle against apartheid and then I would say, ‘What did you have for lunch?’”
She recalls a conversation with Mandela about a dinner gone wrong with his teenage crush. Just 14 at the time, Mandela ate with her family, but had trouble using a knife and fork, causing a chicken wing to fly off his plate.
“When he talked about it, and he was 90 at the time, he still told that story with such intensity that the embarrassment of the moment hadn’t left him.”
It’s stories like those, Trapido points out, that remind us of Mandela’s humanity.
“It’s wellmeaning, but there’s a tendency to deify him, but this is a real person who changed the world for the e better,” she says.
Food also makes s it easier to relate to political figures like Mandela.
“Food is a very interestting communication tool,” says Trapido. “Nothing says ‘I love you’ quite like food. By the same token, nothing says ‘I hate you’ quite as powerfully as nasty meals.”
For Ndoyiya, cooking is a way to give back to a man who did so much for her country.
“I know everyone would love to be with him and serve him and cook for him,” she says. “I’m there and I’m doing it not only for me, but for everyone who has love for him.”