// do not be a tourist in your own culture //

Insecurities of the oppressed.

We fear the new, anything that challenges our culture because we, the colonised are too often insecure in our identities.

When I use an "Afrikan" ingredient in a new context or dare suggest that you could actively contribute to your cuisine traditions, there are always folks in panic & distress. Folks who claim their jollof is the best. Folks who refuse to cook sadza/ugali/fufu with seasoning. Folks who think plantain, cassava, beef & maize are indigenous to Africa. Folks who think matemba don't go well with pasta but inhale seafood pasta with anchovies. Folks who fear expansion means abandonment.

We are all that person sometimes. We think we know the entirety of our histories & traditions. We are afraid that any change to that tradition is disrespectful. We don't know that those traditions are often 2,3,4 generations old. Like how diamond engagement rings are a thing from the '20s, surnames in Southern Africa were introduced by colonisers & Shona is a collective noun that was created to group non-Ndebele people in "Southern Rhodesia" as a means of imperial control.

Many contemporary traditions developed and grew during times of liberation wars and struggles. A time of resource scarcity, simpler food, & a reduced space for creativity, experimentation and growth. Also a time of enforced loyalty to the cause. During these stressful times people hold on to every little thing they can, in defiance to oppression. Still, so much is lost because survival is the chief concern of war, flourishing, thriving & abundance are luxury.

Eventually liberation comes but war time norms never fully go away & this establishes cultural resets, new gate keepers & culture can mutate into cult, dogma & propaganda. "It has always been this way", "we fought for this" and so we do it without question and with reverence to the past, a very recent but turbulent & significant past. We forget there was abundance before. Or at the very least, options.

So even if a tradition is 1000s of years old, think about its origins, what & who it has served & if it still serves us today. Be in conversation with your culture and do not be a tourist watching it as if it were behind museum glass.

Say something new today. Disappoint a gatekeeper.