More Crazy Talk from South Africa

In a previous blog, I sought help in deciphering a list of food items that were recommended for my South African hiking trip. Thanks to a little help from the natives, I now know the following:

1. Vegetable extract: Marmite or Vegemite-type substance. If you've never been to the UK or Australia, this might not help. But remember that 80's song about the Vegemite sandwich? It's not as tasty as it sounds.

2. Smash: Instant mashed potatoes. We had smash one night for dinner with a tasty tofu sauce masquerading as meat sauce. It worked!

3. Rusks: Picture biscotti, but denser, fatter, and much harder. Please don't eat these if the teeth in your mouth are not your original ones.

4. Glucose sweets: I'm still a little unclear. Can someone shed light on this?

5. Boerewors: Yummy sausages. Let's ignore that health study that just came out about processed meats. Boer is Afrikaans for farmer and wors is Afrikaans for sausage. Farmer's sausage doesn't sound so unhealthy, does it?

6. Briquettes for the first night braai: A braii is a barbecue, and briquettes are firestarter material that looks like white blocks.

A couple other words I picked up on the trail:

Mozzies: mosquitoes

Saffers: Short for "South Africans"

Example: I was pleasantly surprised that when I was on my hiking trip, the mozzies ignored me and went right for the Saffers.