Things were cooking on Plaza Day

For some it was a chance to get a taste of home; for others, it was a culinary adventure.

Either way, there was plenty for students and staff to tuck into when the SRC and the International Academic Programmes Office (IAPO) hosted Societies Plaza Day at UCT on 15 May.

For the occasion, a number of national and cultural societies had cooked up a storm of dishes showcasing cuisine from their home countries, served up free and hot on a chilly Cape Town afternoon.

The Zambian Students' Society had offerings such as dried-fish stew, pumpkin leafs cooked with nuts, mustard leafs cooked with nuts, bean stew, okra, kapenta (sardine) stew), and two types of mopane-worm dishes. The Zimbabwe Society served up millet pap, rice cooked with peanut butter, trotters, and their take on mopane stews, while the Congolese Society also had a few mopane stews, cassava, as well as mfumbwa, a stew made with vegetables and dried fish.

Changing pace, the Namibian Students' Organisation (NAMSOC) dished up helpings of omaere, a sour milk drink beloved by Namibia's Herero people; and a selection of gemsbok boerewors. ("People have voted it the best biltong in Africa," boasted NAMSOC's Leslie Mudimu.)

South Africa was also represented. At a stall hosted by the International Academic Programmes Office, students lined up for steaming portions of samp and beans, curried tripe, beef stew and Xhosa bread, among other dishes.

Reviews were unanimously favourable. Student Martin Mössmer, for one, couldn't stop raving about the tripe he'd had at the SA stall. "It was the first time I had it, but it was great, really great."

Check out the full Programme of Events for Africa Month 2014.