Traditional cuisine sampling coming

All roads lead to Maitisong this Saturday for the inaugural Tatso Ya Setswana taste explosion. The event, the brainchild of Sgotti Cocktail & Bar, offers patrons a chance to sample some of the best traditional cuisines. “We normally have a problem of finding reliable suppliers of local food items such as kgodu and phane, and this will also be our way of finding reliable suppliers,” the owner of Sgotti, Tebogo Matenge, explained.

About the concept, Matenge said Sgotti specializes in traditional cuisine and that the event comes on the backdrop of Botswana celebrating her golden Jubilee. According to her, the event aims at creating awareness of the traditional cuisine as well as negates the perception that traditional food is scarce.

On the menu, guests will enjoy dishes that include Bogobe jwa lerotse, seswaa and many more. Beverages on the day will include traditional brew as well as Gemere. What distinguishes this event from other similar concepts is the fact that this one is very intimate, and only targets a small number of patrons. One of the challenges that the organisers came across had to do with logistics of sourcing some food items from different parts of the country. Their initial plan was to have almost every food item from different tribes, but that proved to be a mammoth task.

On promoting youth entrepreneurship, Matenge said they are catered for in the exhibition platform. “We have companies that are owned by young Batswana”. She added that the fee to exhibit also goes hand in hand with the fact that they wish to expose them.

She points out that like other local companies they dealt with challenges such as shortage of funds and sponsors. But she says that all is not lost as they have partnered with Maitisong, as well as the artists who will perform on the day including Mafitlhakgosi Traditional Dance Troupe.