anthony: we re here on game day, a grudge match, in a country where soccer approaches religion. you can feel it in soweto, or rather you can see it, as everywhere you look people show their love for the either local orlando pirates or for the johannesburg kaiser chiefs. mawilies inn, a typical local joint in soweto. the perfect place to watch a game, talk about a game, drink yourself silly over the results of the game or just have a very fine, local-style meal. it is, however, a little hard to find. there are a lot of places like this? i mean, this used to be the garage or carport right? mpume: yeah, definitely. anthony: in what was once a garage are now six tables, a lawn-turned-lounge out back. closed on sundays if grandma is visiting. these kinds of bars were born
culture thing. anthony: what do you think that means? mpume: the whole rainbow nation notion was quite romantic and ridiculous, you know. like, racism is not on a piece of paper so just cause we voted it out doesn t mean people stop being racist, you know, so it s ridiculous in that sense, but we ve lived something else for 20 years. people want it. it s no longer, like, a coffee table idea. we d love some help with laundry. here s how you do it. spray and scrub anything with a stain. soak your nasty jersey. it stinks! wash the really dirty clothes separately. remember -hard work builds character! new tide pods with upgraded 4-in-1 technology unleash a foolproof clean in one step. aww, you did the laundry! but you didn t fold it. oh, that wasn t in the note. should have sent a text.
during a apartheid times when black south africans not allowed to own businesses in white areas adapted and improvised. they did their own thing, created these little micro under the official radar restaurants known around here as eat-houses. mpume: back in the day obviously it was illegal. anthony: right. tshepang: during apartheid. so they ll have meetings to actually plan what they re gonna do. anthony: right, so this would be considered a hotbed of sedition. mpume: yeah, exactly. anthony: now it s just a hotbed of drinking. mpume: yeah. different kind of sedition. anthony: mpume and tshepang from the blk jks have just finished watching the game when i joined them for some food. generally speaking, are these good times in south africa? bad times? transitional times? tshepang: obviously 1994 was the peak of the good times in south africa. now with all of the politics, you know, all the parties, the fighting, it s quite tense right
now. mpume: it s not like it was before, where everybody s you know, it s black and white, literally you know, like we re unified on this and they re unified on that. anthony: these days the party that freed the country from white rule, the anc, is not universally loved anymore. in recent years they have been criticized for inaction, corruption, and cronyism, and opposition parties are gaining strength. mpume: so now it s more nuanced, and i think that s maybe new to us. so i think we re trying to navigate this nuanced reality, how do you deal with so many opinions and, you know, the party that you loved the whole time that brought about this freedom is fumbling the ball, so what do you do? because in democracy you should act. waitress: there s smileys for a snack.
anthony: smileys fire-roasted sheep s head, lips shriveled back in a joker-like rictus of deliciousness. chopped into tasty, tasty bits and eaten with cold beer? yes, of course, yes. it just needs a little salt and pepper. good stuff. that looks good! mpume: this is pap. anthony: what is it? mpume: it s like maize. anthony: pap, or meal pap. a sticky porridge made from ground cornmeal. it fills the role that grits do in the american south, rice in much of asia. it s tasty, relatively nutritious and cheap filler. and it sops up gravy when you have something like this stewed beef, real good. mpume: that s the traditional dumpling. anthony: that s a dumpling? mpume: yeah, it s not really like other dumplings. anthony: dumplings, important throughout the african diaspora, made with flour and yeast. a spongy bread-type tool for mopping up sauce. stewed greens, carrots, beans,