South African dried fruit is as famous as its dried meat, and South African preserves are unbeatable. Claimed by everyone but probably handed down by the Afrikaners' French forebears, preserves, known as konfyt - probably from the French confiture - feature jewel-like pieces of watermelon rind, quince or other hard fruit, soaked in lime water, then cooked in sugar syrup and spices, presented in syrup and eaten on their own. Green fig is one of the best-known and most delicious, steeped in a syrup seasoned with cinnamon and dried ginger.

South African puddings generally are superb, and extremely sweet, and the legacy of all its inhabitants, from English trifle to Afrikaner melktert.

So, to some extent, are the foods most commonly attributed to the Afrikaner: based on Dutch cuisine, with contributions from French and German immigrant communities, with a large dollop of Cape Malay, and tempered by decades of trekking.

Potjiekos, for example, says food writer and restaurateur Peter Veldsman, who invented the term, has been part of South African life since the first settlement at the Cape. "In those days, food was cooked in an open hearth in the kitchen in a black cast-iron pot with legs so that the coals could be scraped under the pot," he notes in Flavours of South Africa. Later, meat, vegetables and spices piled into a three-legged iron pot and cooked for quite a long time over a fire was the perfect way for trek farmers to keep body and soul together. When camp was made, game was stewed, or mutton, goat or old oxen; the pot, its contents protected by a heavy layer of fat, was hooked under the wagon when camp was struck, then unhooked at the next stop and put on the fire.

The Afrikaner's traditional way with vegetables and fruit - baked pumpkin sweetened with golden syrup or honey, spiced sun-dried peaches stewed with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and sugar, or baby marrows and braised onions - all brighten a meal.

Boerewors - farmers' sausage - is another standard Afrikaner dish, the legacy of German settlers who, with - largely - Dutch and French immigrants, formed Afrikaner ancestry. Exceptionally fat, boerewors, an essential at any braai, is made usually of beef, pork, coriander and other spices.

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	Besides a national passion for prawns, South Africans show a fondness for an odd fish called the kingklip - baked, deep-fried, grilled or pan-fried (Photo: GCIS)

	South African cuisine   Footprints in the sand   From Bobotie to Biryani   The great mielie   The meat of the matter   The Afrikaner kitchen   And the others?