Abstract:
Lesotho is a small country (30,350 sq.km with about 2.233 million population), completely surrounded by the
Republic of South Africa. The people of the Kingdom of Lesotho are referred to as Basotho. This study aimed to
investigate the culinary practices with regard to traditional Basotho bread, thus serving as a basis for documenting
an aspect of Basotho traditional food knowledge. The study was conducted in five districts of Lesotho using focus
groups, each consisting of ten housewives in each district, and face-to-face interviews with 253 women respondents
who completed a questionnaire related to their knowledge, preparation and consumption of traditional Basotho bread.
Recipes for ten traditional Basotho breads were obtained during five focus group sessions. The survey revealed that
most of the respondents (99%) prepare bread at a household level using wheat flour. A few (15%) use maize flour and
sorghum flour is used by only (5%). The main preparation steps were identified as sorting, cleaning of grains, dry
milling and/or wet milling, mixing ingredients, fermentation and cooking. Bread is used for household consumption
and social functions, such as weddings and funerals. This paper documents the culinary practices for ten Basotho
breads from maize, wheat and sorghum. Research geared to the improvement of the quality characteristics of maize
and sorghum breads should be given the highest priority to encourage the use of local ingredients.
