Cultural appropriation is a real thing and South Africans are still shocked.
There is an account on TikTok called Prohibition 1920, where they make moonshine drinks. Their most recent video is of umqombothi being strained using a portable laundry dryer from Amazon.
What is umqombothi?
Umqombothi is sorghum beer usually made by African people to appease the ancestors or when there is a celebratory ceremony.
It is prepared using water, yeast, maize meal, corn malt and grounded sorghum malt. It must be fermented for at least three to five days, and to strain it, Africans usually use isivovo (beer skimmer).
Unlike the usual beer, umqombothi is usually brown and thick because one of its main ingredients is maizel.
People like Loot Love were shocked that what they know as an African traditional beer is now called “moonshine” in other parts of the world.
@prohibition1920 ♬ original sound - 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧1920 🥃
@Buhles asked: “They said this is moonshine, now my concern is that is umqombothi even ours, to begin with?”
Well, Buhles can rest assured that umqombothi is South Africa’s finest beer because it originates from the Nguni people.
While others were still shocked at the “moonshine”, some were happy to discover that a portable washing dryer can be used instead of a beer skimmer, which usually takes time.
“Yho, don’t let the new lazy makoti’s see thing. Siyo dakwa isilungu mos (we will get drunk in a modern way),” said @sanele.
Nonetheless, no matter how innovative Americans can be in their umqombothi-making process, they will never do it like us because here in Mzansi it oozes that lekker flavour.