An Adventure in Eating Pap

We knew when we were called on a mission to South Africa we might have the opportunity to eat some foods that were different from what we are used to in Pomerene Arizona and sure enough we have been exposed to things we probably would never have been exposed to back home.

The first food that was a different experience was pap, pronounced like pop, like in soda pop.  We first had it in this form at a church function in Welkom.  I actually liked it a lot.  The homemake salsa they served us was really good.

According to
Wikipedia pap is:

Pap, also known as mieliepap in South Africa, is a traditional porridge / polenta made from mielie-meal and a staple food of the Bantu inhabitants of Southern Africa

According to Rainbow cooking:

Pap – a porridge made from maize (corn) meal – is the staple food of southern Africa.

Putu pap is also known as krummelpap, which means "crumbly porridge". It is made with very little water, giving it a dry and crumbly texture.

It is usually combined with a tomato-and-onion sauce, such assheba sauce or chakalaka sauce, and served as a side dish together with barbecued meat or boerewors (braaivleis).

People in the Western Cape tend to eat krummelpap with milk and sugar for breakfast.

The second time we had pap was in a casserole at President Grobler's home.  He is the stake president of the Bloemfontein Stake.  It looked a lot like this.  The pap was on the bottom and a delicious meat mixture was on top.  We both really like pap in this form.

Pap comes up in conversations a lot.  Some missionaries like it and
some do not.  One of the most frequently asks questions is, "Have
you have had pap yet."  Missionaries seem to have real and very mixed emotions when it comes to pap.