Packing ‘padkos’: Some vintage treats worth trying again

SINCE long before the advent of fast food franchises and one-stop fuel and refreshment stops, padkos has been a proud South African tradition.

Now, even though South Africa’s road trip eating habits have changed over the years, many travellers still hark back to yesteryear when it comes to food on the go.

Here are some of those tried and trusted travel treats that Mom used to serve up on the road. Some of them still make appearances on many family road trip menus:

* Creamy egg mayonnaise sandwiches, made with the freshest of bread and crisped up with slivers of lettuce, were delicious if a bit smelly when you opened their container.

* Ham, cheese and tomato on powdery white rolls were a close second to the eggy sandwich treat.

* Hot, meaty, gravy-rich homemade pies could be bought from the corner caff in a dot-on-the-map town in the middle of no-where. Better still, were pies made by Mom, with tender loving care.

* Vinegar-drenched slap chips with thickly battered fish or Russian sausages could be obtained from that corner caff in a dot-on-the-map town in the middle of no-where.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN: Top five healthy and affordable lunch ideas

* To wash it down there was Hubbly Bubbly cold drink or pink and green flavoured milk (no bubblegum flavour in those far-off days) in returnable glass bottles, also on sale at the corner caff in that dot-on-the-map town in the middle of no-where. You needed a bottle opener to pries off the tops. Fortunately there was always a bottle opener tucked away in the car cubby hole for just such a contingency.

* Cold roast chicken with crispy skin was another treat. After it was filled with Mom’s special secret recipe stuffing, it was cooked to moist perfection then left to cool in its own juices. You would need a pile of white paper napkins after this family finger food road trip feast.

*A strange but delicious concoction of hard boiled eggs, wrapped in sausage meat and crumbs then deep fried was known as Scotch eggs. Probably not too healthy, they were usually served up with South Africa’s favourite chutney.

* Salads were an afterthought. So-called green salad was constructed from those hard, white, tasteless ‘soccer ball’ lettuces, chunks of tomatoes, green peppers and cucumber and sliced onion, all sprinkled with brown malt vinegar. The words, “olive oil, spirit vinegar, balsamic vinegar, salad dressing and feta cheese” were not really part of Mom’s vocabulary.

* Then there was what housewives of that era called coleslaw. Grated cabbage and carrot was liberally doused with that greasy, creamy white substance known as mayonnaise but bearing no resemblance to the mayonnaise many people make at home today. When you were hungry enough, the soggy coleslaw tasted good.

* How about sweet treats? There was usually a big bag of Ouma’s homemade rusks – or a box of the much-loved commercial variety – plus marie biscuits or the more expensive lemon or chocolate cream-filled ones, as well as Auntie Dora’s rock hard soet koekies or Moms crumbly peanut butter cookies. A tin of humbugs or butterscotch sweets or twists of orange barley sugar were on hand to prevent car sickness.

*Meals were concluded with a flask – probably a tartan one – of boeretroos coffee or tea, liberally laced with condensed milk – delicious.

* These movable feasts were often consumed on little cement chairs at little cement tables on the side of the road. Passing cars would hoot and everyone would wave back. Sometimes meals were taken on a picnic rug near a little stream out in the countryside or even at wooden tables and benches in one of those official picnic sites, spotlessly maintained by the local authority, in that dot-on-the-map town in the middle of no-where.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram

For news straight to your phone, add us on BBM 58F3D7A7 or WhatsApp 082 421 6033