International Club Serves Up A Taste Of South Africa

By Dottie Evans

Whether guests were nibbling barbecued sosaties (chunks of lamb) off their skewers, spreading salmon mousse on crackers, drizzling curried chutney over the bobotie squares (ground meat and grain), making a meal of boer wors (sausage) or finishing off with melktert, a farm custard, they all agreed the food was fabulous.

It was South African night at the International Club of Newtown, Saturday, June 21, when hosts Ian and Lee Andor opened up their Mount Manor Road home in Sandy Hook for nearly 50 guests from the greater Danbury area.

For the uninitiated, it was an adventure in new tastes.

For those who had lived in South Africa, it was like going home.

“This is a Braai Vleis, or barbecue cookout,” explained Wendy White, a South African native who had prepared many of the dishes served at the international club dinner.

“The grain used is called mealie meal, and it’s made from corn or maize, and the sausage is served with putu, a tomato gravy.”

Host Ian Andor stood out on his deck, fending off raindrops while keeping an eye on several huge filets cooking on the grill. When a visitor inquired about the marinade, he explained that it was called “monkey gland” sauce but did not go into further detail about what that meant.

Mr Andor had bought several South African wines to go with the dinner, which guests were enjoying.

Because torrential rains made it impossible to sit outside, guests were crowded into the kitchen and dining room and they did not seem to mind, since that was where the food and the wine were.

After the dinner, photographer Katherine Beattie, a Danbury resident, spoke to the club about her years spent in South Africa (between 1974 and 1980) with her husband and children.

Her photographs were taken from slides made to accompany presentations to adult and school groups on South African wildlife and the culture of tribal peoples. Her subsequent art associations and photographic courses led her to exhibiting the photographs as an art medium.

“I consider that my photographic images are a humble effort to share the joy I found celebrating something God had created so perfectly,” Ms Beattie wrote in her biographical material.

The International Club of Newtown is a social and cultural club made up of people from other countries and the United States who have resided overseas and speak the languages of those countries.

Club participants share their varying cultural backgrounds and welcome other new arrivals to the area. The club meets monthly in members’ homes, holds a ladies’ luncheon monthly in a local restaurant or a member’s home, and organizes a monthly social function for all members.

Publicity chairman is Marie Giner of Newtown, who also works part-time for the Parks and Recreation Department of Newtown.