Source: Fancying kapoto? Men choose backyard canteens over home –Newsday Zimbabwe
IT’S a Thursday and a woman is cracking her head probably thinking of how she will spend the weekend with her husband.
As a responsible wife, the woman engages colleagues seeking advice on how to please a man and the best she can do so that he does not feel bored.
The more sophisticated ones ask Grok, X (formerly Twitter)’s generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI.
Different suggestions come and these include baking, buying him his favourite beverage and later slaughtering a chicken which they will either roast or braai.
As she assigns their house helper to dress the chicken, the woman strictly tells her to throw away the offals as they will contaminate and spoil the menu.
With everything set, the man of the house still finds time out to be with the boys on a day the woman anticipates happiness.
For many, the reason for sneaking out is none other than kapoto, a delicacy that’s driving men to backyard canteens dotted around towns and cities.
Kapoto, which consist of chicken offals, hearts, gizzards, kidneys, heads and the feet, is topping the list as the most sought after relish at canteens.
Some women do not even know that their husbands pay more for kapoto and even in advance to shake off competition from others.
NewsDay Weekender sought to find out what makes this dish so enticing.
In Mbare, almost all the food vendors were in agreement that kapoto is the in-thing.
“People love it, especially men. There are some who even book in advance so they can get it. Some pay more than what we charge as a way of securing it,” said a backyard canteen owner identified as Mai Tindo from Mbare Musika.
“To retain some of our clients, we even call or text them to check if they will come or if we can reserve it for them.
“I had a client who used to frequent here just for kapoto and he paid in advance. He stopped coming when I sold it to some guys as I had assumed being a weekend, he would not come. The guy was pissed off, he just drove off without saying a word.”
She added: “From that day I realised kapoto is on demand and I communicate with my clients informing them of its availability or non-availability. I even notify them of the time it will be ready to avoid disappointing them.”
NewsDay Weekender witnessed near chaos at a food outlet in Harare’s central business district when the canteen owner served kapoto to only one client, reserving the rest to already paid-up clients.
Some women even enquired about it.
“We used to think it’s men only who like this dish, but it’s no longer the case,” the canteen owner in the CBD said.
“Women are also booking. It’s a simple dish we never thought will be on demand.”
Asked why they never prepare such dishes at home, Ayanda Tsopotsa, affectionately known as Mai Tasha, said she never thought such a meal would be consumed by her husband.
“I never prepared this dish at home because I feel my husband deserves the best portions, not knowing these guys can go to backyard canteens for chicken offals,” she said.
“Growing up, we were told by our grandmothers and aunts the portions we should serve our men.
“I even remember my husband telling me that they were taught how to kill a goat or a cow in the event they visited our home.
“It was part of the grooming that when at the in-laws and he is assigned to slaughter a beast, he should know how to execute that duty, how to skin the beast and cut the pieces of meat.
“Now you try to keep with that teaching, but the man of the house goes to a canteen.”
Asked why men love kapoto compared to the special portions reserved for them, Arthur Ngome (36) from Kuwadzana said it becomes routine and sometimes you predict what his wife will cook at home.
“So to spice it up, I end up going to the canteen,” he said.
“Some years back I visited my rural home with my wife. My grandmother cooked millet sadza and she gave us millet meal to use at home since she knew my weakness for this traditional meal.
“I begged her to at least teach my wife how it is prepared.
“As we were home, I asked my wife to cook it for me, but the answer I got was shocking. She told me to ‘visit your granny to cook for you’. To avoid a confrontation I resolved to go out with boys to where this dish is prepared, obviously at a cost. This I do once or twice a month.”
From the conversation, it seems men still value traditional meals.
This might be the reason many are flocking KwaTerry in Mhondoro, miles away from the capital city to have a feel of the village and what it offers.
“I often visit eateries that save traditional dishes, the road runner, sour milk, mazondo and gearbox served with sadza remhunga, rezviyo or mapfunde,” said Thomas Ruwona from Goromonzi.
“”Growing up, my mother used to own calabashes, gourds, wooden plates, ethernware plates and containers as well as clay jugs.
“These completed a traditional appeal to our homes, where goat and cattle skin were used interchangeably with reed mat as carpets.”
NewsDay Weekender an sought opinion from a medical practitioner, Jonathan Mundiya, to understand if the rise in demand has any nutritional or medicinal value.
“There is no medicinal or nutritional value that’s different from the regular chicken,” he said.
“I am sure it all has to do with the taste as it is something we may fail to get at home.”
A Murewa-based traditional healer, Sekuru Joe Bike, said chicken offals are not an aphrodisiac at all.
“They are not an aphrodisiac,” he said.
“In this case I strongly believe that they are just a delicacy.”
It seems the old generation reminisce the good old days and those in tourism and hospitality will ride on this nostalgic moment to cater local tourism.
Today, it is clear that the majority of Zimbabwean men have resorted to canteens in search of kapoto, a dish of chicken offals.
COMMENTS