Magwinya with Liver Paté

Growing up in Soweto, I remember the image of old mamas carrying large buckets early in the morning. It was only once I got a bit older I realised they were carrying magwinya to sell at taxi ranks, bus stops, train stations and anywhere and everywhere there was foot traffic.

Magwinya is the township version of vetkoek. Vetkoek (pronounced ‘fet-cook’ and meaning ‘fat cake’) is uniquely South African deep-fried bread. Afrikaans in origin, research (i.e. the internet) reckons they were