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Gathering food |
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Very few indigenous Cape plants have ever been domesticated as food crops. San hunter-gatherers and Khoe herders did not cultivate
crops like farmers do today. However they did manage the veld to promote the
growth of “veldkos”. They regularly
burned the veld to encourage “uintjies” to grow and to improve grazing for
their livestock.
They gathered eggs, fruit, seeds, roots and even
flowers to eat and collected |
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| Hunting animals | |
 
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The first peoples of the Cape hunted fish, birds,
tortoises, rabbits and antelope.
The early settlers who hunted for sport as well as for
food destroyed most of Cape Town’s large wild animals in less than 200
years. Today hunting is prohibited because there are too few
wild animals in the city to survive the pressures of hunting.
However, people do hunt animals illegally in the
city,
even in some of the nature reserves where animals should be protected.
Because hunting is illegal in Cape Town, we will focus on edible plants in this section. |
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| Indigenous Fruits |
 Before
grapes, apples, bananas and watermelons were introduced to South Africa, the
first peoples of the Cape enjoyed eating many of the small fruits and
berries produced by indigenous plants. These berries are rich in vitamins
and minerals that we need for good health. You can plant them in your school
or home garden and enjoy eating berries straight from the bush. |
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| Indigenous vegetables |
 Vegetables are very important in our diet because they
provide us with vitamins, minerals and amino acids that we need to stay
healthy. Today, most of the vegetables we eat come from other countries.
Mealies originally came from Central America, potatoes and tomatoes from
South America, cabbage from Europe and rice from Asia. Before these plants
were introduced to South Africa, the first peoples ate a variety of indigenous
vegetables, both fresh and cooked. |
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Click the buttons to find out more about indigenous food plants:
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