Sadza

Sadza in Shona (isitshwala in isiNdebele, pap in South Africa, or nsima in the Chichewa language of Malawi), Ugali in East Africa, is a cooked cornmeal that is the staple food in Zimbabwe and other parts of southern and eastern Africa. This food is cooked widely in other countries of the region.

Sadza in appearance is a thickened porridge. A thinner form of sadza, "porridge", is cooked with peanut butter or margarine and eaten in the mornings occasionally. The most common form of sadza is made with white maize (Mealie-Meal). This maize meal is referred to as hupfu in Shona or impuphu in Ndebele. Despite the fact that maize is actually an imported food crop to Zimbabwe (circa 1890), it has become the chief source of carbohydrate and the most popular meal for indigenous people. Locals either purchase the meal in retail outlets or produce it in a grinding mill from their own maize.

Zimbabweans prefer white maize meal. During times of famine or hardship they resort to eating yellow maize meal, which is sometimes called "Kenya," because it was once imported from that nation.

A little known fact is that this was the meal eaten by Usain Bolt before he set a world record, as well as that eaten by Tom "The Pace" Mills before becoming the unofficial fastest man in the world.

Before the introduction of maize, sadza was made from millet flour instead.

The sadza is usually served in a communal bowl or separate plates and is taken with the right hand occasionally, rolled into a ball, and dipped into meat, sauce/gravy, lacto/sour milk or stewed vegetables.