--- title: "South Africans tuck into traditional food culture to challenge ultra-processed diets" description: "As ultra-processed diets reshape food systems, communities across South Africa are protecting indigenous crops, growing fresh produce and restoring the culture of shared meals." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "WORD OF MOUTH" author: "Iman Allie" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/iman-allie/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-11-08-south-africans-tuck-into-traditional-food-culture-to-challenge-ultra-processed-diets/" published: "2026-11-08T15:42:35" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 1398 --- # South Africans tuck into traditional food culture to challenge ultra-processed diets > As ultra-processed diets reshape food systems, communities across South Africa are protecting indigenous crops, growing fresh produce and restoring the culture of shared meals. By Iman Allie · Published 8 November 2026, 17:42 SAST ## Key points - As ultra-processed foods reshape South African diets, communities are fighting back by reviving indigenous crops, seeds and farming traditions. - In Mpumalanga and Zimbabwe, elders are helping EarthLore restore traditional food systems – from marula beer to millet ceremonies and chemical-free cultivation. - In Cape Town, “farmer without land” Nomonde Buthelezi is growing food, training communities and helping people claim their constitutional right to food. - For Christie-Ann Dinthe, rejecting processed foods also means reclaiming the family meal – a healthier, more sustainable and deeply social act. ## Content In areas of Mpumalanga such as Steenbok and Elukwatini, marula – both wild and domestic – grows abundantly. In the summer when the marula trees bear their first fruits, rural communities celebrate by harvesting the marula and turning it into a traditional beer. Later when winter arrives the marula nuts will be cracked and eaten. Traditional practices such as these are being lost across the globe. According to a[report](https://assets.advocacyincubator.org/uploads/2026/GHAI-Factsheet-TraditionalDiets-and-UPPs.pdf) by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), diets are shifting towards ultra-processed foods, eroding traditional food cultures and reshaping food systems systems with it. [READ MORE Why we should keep consuming Africa’s traditional fermented foods May 1, 2025 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/lr-0lhnovzOw3hs_Uuh_7Y-WWgk=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-2071487764.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-05-01-africas-traditional-fermented-foods-and-why-we-should-keep-consuming-them/) At the same time individuals such as Method Gundidiza, Christie-Ann Dinthe and Nomonde Buthelezi are promoting traditional food systems, consuming traditional diets and resisting ultra-processed foods. ### Reviving indigenous food knowledge ![Method Gundidza is promoting traditional food systems in the face of the rise of ultra-processed diets](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/DLXhS-BQpR5b-CdBdoJF6ANz1uI=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-TradRevival3_259723.jpg) *EarthLore Foundation director Method Gundidza (Photo: Supplied / Sara Davies)* EarthLore Foundation is a South African-registered nonprofit company that works with rural communities in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Masvingo in Zimbabwe to revive their traditional seeds and rituals and ceremonies associated with seeds and farming, says EarthLore Foundation director Method Gundidza (51). The foundation collaborates with elders of various communities to protect natural sites. Community members, especially the elders, are vital to EarthLore’s work, says Gundidza. It is their generational knowledge and direction that is used to revive indigenous crops, traditional farming culture and agricultural activities, and to put traditional food back on people’s plates, he explains. ![EarthLore Foundation director Method Gundidza speaks to an elderly potter who is explaining her pottery skills and how important clay pots are in the Millet threshing ceremony in Bikita, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Supplied / Amy Forshaw)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/EoAmNbce1moxRobAvGggHBdaaBc=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-TradRevival4_848869.jpg) *EarthLore’s Method Gundidza speaks to an elderly potter, who is explaining her pottery skills and how important clay pots are in the millet-threshing ceremony in Bikita, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Supplied / Amy Forshaw)* Traditional diets are usually rooted in fresh, local and minimally processed foods, such as vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains, and animal products, according to the GHAI. These foods are typically home-cooked, seasonal and tailored to a community’s environment and culture. According to Gundidza, EarthLore does not promote the cultivation of any specific seed or crop without the elders’ direction. For example, Gundidza recalls how in Elukwatini he has supported communities in growing maize, because the elders had taught him its significance. Maize is traditionally used to make beverages like magau and traditional beer, he says. The GHAI notes that, compared to ultra-processed foods, traditional diets have a smaller an impact on the environment. Ultra-processed foods depend heavily on resource-intensive monocultures, which compromise biodiversity, and their packaging and supply chains, storage and transportation contribute to pollution, waste and greenhouse gas emissions, according to the GHAI. Traditional diets, on the other hand, require less packaging and transportation and promote more sustainable farming systems, GHAI reports. Gundidza explains that agroecology has become a huge movement across Africa, but at the core of it traditional food systems have always used agroecology principles. “Agroecology movements… this is really the essence of what traditional food systems are about. To grow food without chemicals, grow food that is authentically ours, to grow food that is free of genetic modification, to grow food that when entering our bodies, it nourishes us,” he says. [READ MORE Rirhandzu Marivate, a champion for urban food systems using regenerative farming August 12, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/fl_f_lUWacQNkjyXW5cEN3waYpk=/450x0/smart/file/attachments/orphans/RirhandzuMarivateDH1227copy_260949.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-12-rirhandzu-marivate-a-champion-for-urban-food-systems-using-regenerative-farming/) ### A farmer without land ![Nomonde Buthelezi in her small food garden. She has moved from an ultra-processed diet because of health issues.](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/hhdip4LKv0w_Gg0aWr3J4aE1el4=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-TradRevival10_467691.jpg) *Nomonde Buthelezi tends to her garden. (Photo: Supplied / Ntlahla Buthelezi)* Nomonde Buthelezi (48) was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in 2016. At the time, her doctor had instructed her to cut out half the foods she had in her cupboard and to incorporate organic food into her diet. But she could not afford the cost of an organic diet, Buthelezi says. Her old diet included ultra-processed tinned foods with long shelf lives that she would buy in bulk to last her the entire month and ultra-processed meats such as polony. “If I bought something in bulk, I didn’t care how healthy it was. At the time, my hunger dictated what I had access to. Even though in my mind and in my head, I hoped or I wished to eat certain foods, like fresh veggies and fresh fruits,” she says. According to the GHAI, ultra-processed foods account for about 37% to 39% of total daily energy intake among low-income adults in South Africa. The report highlights that ultra-processed foods are a major driver of obesity, non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes) and global mortality rates. In SA, [diabetes](https://www.samrc.ac.za/news/diabetes-south-africa-need-evidence-based-science-and-decisive-leadership) is the leading cause of natural death. A year later, Buthelezi participated in a training programme run by Soil for Life, which demystified organic food for her, she says. Buthelezi learnt that organic food does not have to be expensive or inaccessible. ![Growing your own vegetables to replace an ultra-processed diet](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/VCNkZn6Q_QL70zaNsZkidS05RSA=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-TradRevival12_558365.jpg) *Nomonde Buthelezi grows gooseberries, spinach, beetroot and amaranth in her garden. (Photo: Supplied / Nomonde Buthelezi)* She began her own vegetable garden and started selling vegetables to her community of Mfuleni, Cape Town. She joined Soil for Life, where she recruited and trained people in Mfuleni to start their own vegetable gardens, she says. However, during Covid in 2020, her garden was vandalised and her focus shifted to her home garden where she is growing her own tomatoes, lettuce, rhubarb, beetroot, gooseberries, strawberries, spinach, amaranth and herbs. “I’m a farmer without land. That’s my intro. Whenever I introduce myself, I’ll be ‘a farmer without land’,” Buthelezi says. In 2021, Buthelezi co-founded the Food Agency Cape Town (FACT). FACT is a community research organisation that advocates for the people’s right to food. The organisation measures food insecurity in the immediate communities where members live. The findings are then shared with these communities, and community discussions are held to understand them. She adds that community dialogues have made them aware of section 27 of the Constitution, the right to food, and how this right can be assured. Buthelezi is also a facilitator at eco clubs at a school in primary school in Nyanga and high school in Salt River, Cape Town. She teaches the children at the primary school how to grow their own food. Children are taught farming methods that are climate-smart and environmentally ofriendly, as well as the health benefits of growing and eating their own food. At Salt River Secondary School, learners are trained in the garden on how to maintain a food garden, they are taught the benefits of healthy eating and growing their own food. Learners are taught entrepreneurship and about culinary futures, Buthelezi says. ### Family meals building connections ![Christie-Ann Dinthe (Photo: Supplied / Christie-Ann Dinthe)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/hvCpuRw9pcI3eBUuunhFJfSJSJA=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-TradRevival5_849523.jpg) *Christie-Ann Dinthe. (Photo: Supplied / Christie-Ann Dinthe)* In high school, Christie-Ann Dinthe (24) noticed that she had always felt quite fatigued after eating normal white or brown bread. She started experimenting with her diet to figure out what worked best for her. “I’m in my early 20s. And there’s a lot of growing pains that come with it. And I’ve realised, if I stay away from certain things, like added sugar or processed meats, I’m able to understand myself better,” Dinthe says. Dinthe explains that she has cut out added sugars, seed oils, ultra-processed meats and ready-made microwave meals from her diet. ![Christie-Ann Dinthe's kidney bean salad, chicken salad and carrot and potato mash. (Photo: Supplied / Christie-Ann Dinthe)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/_dNcQkPWdNjvHFXQ25sQoA_pDas=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-TradRevival6_496218.jpg) *Christie-Ann Dinthe’s kidney bean salad, chicken stew and carrot and potato mash. (Photo: Supplied / Christie-Ann Dinthe)* Dinthe says she and her family do not dine out very often, so dinners are typically spent around the table with her family, eating a home-cooked meal that either she or her mother prepares. Ultra-processed foods can undermine food culture and community by reducing opportunities for cooking and sharing meals together, according to the GHAI. As more people eat alone or on the go, individuals become disconnected from the social and cultural experiences traditionally tied to food. ![Healthy home-prepared food is better than ultra-processed diets.](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/Lkd7KNjnnFd7gtkiURwuexpi77Y=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-TradRevival8_226156.jpg) *Christie-Ann Dinthe’s chocolate cake with date caramel and a sprinkle of cinnamon.(Photo: Supplied / Christie-Ann Dinthe)* Dinthe’s mother usually cooks traditional seven-colours dishes, while Dinthe herself likes to experiment with other cuisines. She adds that she often adds her own twist to "mainstream meals” such pastas, by substituting sugar with date syrup or sneaking fruits and vegetables into food such as cake that doesn’t conventionally include them. “It’s definitely a bonding experience. We get to share a meal. And I’m always excited to ask them: ‘What do you guys think about this?’ After cooking with these types of foods for so long, I get to experiment, because I now know what each ingredient does. So I eat with them and ask: ‘How does it taste? Did you enjoy it? What could I change?’ It’s nice,” Dinthe says of eating dinner with her family every evening. **DM**