Township Staple · Fermented Maize Drink
Mageu (Amahewu)
Photo: Chandapiwa Malema / Wikimedia Commons · CC0
It's essentially probiotic maize porridge turned into a drink — the tangy sourness comes from natural lactic-acid fermentation, not added flavoring.
Mageu is made by cooking maize meal into a thin porridge, adding a little flour as a starter, and letting it ferment for a day or two until it turns pleasantly sour and slightly fizzy. It's sold in cartons at spaza shops and street stalls across South Africa, and is a common homemade staple too.
Why it's made this way: It's been a daily nutritional staple in South African households for generations, prized as a filling, affordable drink that predates the arrival of bottled soft drinks.
More from South Africa
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.