Umngqusho

Samp, dried maize kernels stamped and broken, is soaked overnight with sugar beans and then simmered for hours, with water topped up so it does not catch, until the two turn soft and creamy. Cooks add onion, potato, carrot, tomato, butter or a meat bone.

Umngqusho is Xhosa and associated with the Eastern Cape. Nelson Mandela, who grew up there, is widely reported to have named it his favourite food soon after his release from prison in 1990. Among Zulu speakers the same dish is called isitambu.

Filling and inexpensive, samp is cooked for weddings, funerals, Christmas and Easter as well as everyday meals. In 2009 Voice of America found a vendor near Johannesburg selling large plates for about a dollar, while upmarket restaurants charged more for small portions served beside expensive cuts of meat.