For Tracey Erasmus, heritage has never been just one thing. It is a little bit Afrikaans, Dutch, French, English and Portuguese mixed around a family table and shaped by the people who came before her.

“We’re a bit of a European melting pot turned South African,” says Erasmus, who lives in Blairgowrie, Randburg. Her mum’s family had Portuguese and English roots, while her dad’s side brought British, Dutch and French heritage. And with her dad being one of 10 children, family gatherings on that side were always big affairs.

At home, Erasmus was one of triplets, so life was already noisy and full of people. And, naturally, there was plenty of food.

Her dad’s side brought South African favourites to the table: Pumpkin fritters, sweet vegetables, bobotie, milk tart, peppermint crisp tart and plenty of braai food.

Her mum’s side leaned more towards European and British-style cooking, with Sunday roasts, pavlova, sago pudding, bread and butter pudding and Christmas cakes.

Grandma’s more-ish dishes

Some of Erasmus’s fondest memories are attached to those dishes. Her grandmother’s roast potatoes, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, were so popular that everyone kept an eye out for seconds.

Then there was her grandmother’s granadilla cake, which Erasmus remembers as one of the best cakes she had ever tasted. Years later, she discovered her grandmother’s secret. “She’d eventually got over measuring out all the ingredients and decided to make life easier,” Erasmus laughs. “It was Pillsbury vanilla cake mix with her granadilla icing!”

But the sweetest memories are the simplest ones. On Sunday nights, the family would make coffee on the stove and pancakes sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and lemon juice before settling down to watch Carte Blanche. Even today, that combination of flavours takes Erasmus straight back to childhood.

And then there is sago pudding. As a little girl, Erasmus was fascinated by the tiny sago pearls floating in the sweet, creamy pudding. “As I got older, I’d sometimes moan, ‘Oh, not sago again!’, but then I’d taste it and immediately remember being that little girl who thought they were magic pearls.”

Food has always had the power to transport Erasmus back to a person, a place or a moment she thought she’d forgotten.

She still has a folder of her grandmother’s handwritten recipes, something she says she will cherish forever.

Many hands in the Christmas cake batter

Every November, Erasmus and her sisters Samantha Fawell and Louise Hornsby set aside time to bake the family’s Christmas cakes – continuing a tradition started by their grandmother, who baked eight cakes each year to make sure there was enough for everyone.

The year after she taught Erasmus how to make them, her grandmother suddenly passed away. “It felt as though the baton had been passed to me to carry on this thing she had always done for our family.”

The sisters often involve their own children in the cake-baking ritual, and are sometimes joined by their mum. The children get their hands into the mixture and help stir in the fruit, just as their great-grandmother once did. “It’s one of those traditions where you can actually see the generations coming together around the same bowl, doing the same thing.”

Today, Erasmus’s own family has added another layer, with Lebanese traditions from her husband’s side joining the mix. There might be kibbeh alongside pumpkin fritters and pavlova.

“I think that’s really what heritage looks like in our home,” she says. “It isn’t one perfectly preserved tradition. It’s all these little pieces of the people and families who came before us, mixed with the traditions we’re creating with our own children. It’s our own version of heritage and it works for us.”

BAKED PUMPKIN FRITTER RECIPE

1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
½ cup plain Greek yoghurt
1 egg
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt and sweetener of choice

Mix everything until you have a thick batter.
Scoop tablespoon-sized dollops onto a lined baking tray and bake at 170°C (fan-assisted oven) for 8–10 minutes.
Brush with melted butter while still warm and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and xylitol (or sugar).
Makes approximately 16–18 fritters.

Approximate nutritional info per fritter:
• 50 calories
• 2g protein
• 7g carbs
• 1–2g fat

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