The Mystery of "Bundu Friend" Cookbook, A Strange Little Book Now Selling for $45

Cooking Style in the Bundu

It’s a mystery what has become of Paxie Watson, author of an apparently rare little gem of a cook book from Zimbabwe, “Bundu Friend: The Democrats Cook Book.”

   Bundu means wilderness, the wilds. It seems that for most of her life Paxie lived without electricity and many other conveniences.

 
I have searched far and wide for more information on or a connection to the author without success.

   Sources in Zimbabwe lead to dead-ends, and news accounts indicate the Watson family was run off their banana plantation by armed native Zimbabweans reclaiming ancestral tribal lands.

   The Watsons had survived several previous efforts but the news does not look good at the moment.

   When writing about collectible cookbooks I said they are not a good investment. I don’t know about this one. The book is hard to find, listing for as much as $45 when available.   Will it increase in value? If someone writes the story of the Paxie mystery, I would bet so. 

                      She is Old and Alone

   “I am old and alone,” Paxie wrote in the introduction to the only known edition, only 116 pages paperbound, issued in 1997 in Zimbabwe with her own copyright. “I would like to share my knowledge and help the young just beginning…”

   This is not a typical cookbook. “I have learned from years of experience to cook on coals from wood,” she says. And she visited one place where they had no wood for the fire, only cow dung. “This process is very slow and what they wish to eat tomorrow, they start cooking today.”

   Bundu contains an array of poems and sayings, plus some Afrikaans dishes of the white settlers, quite a few Zimbabwean and other African recipes, and others gathered from here and there -- Chinese, Mexican, even Hawaiian. Here is one I liked, I don’t think Paxie will mind sharing:

                       Recipe for Pumpkin Leaves

   Malawi Mnkhwani (Pumpkin Leaves) The leaves and flowers of the pumpkin are commonly eaten like spinach. For this recipe you need 2 bunches, 4 tsp minced groundnuts or peanut butter, 2 chopped tomatoes. Wash the leaves, remove fiber, cut up them up, then cook in a little water, adding groundnuts and tomato when nearly cooked (20 minutes in all).

   Are these the same as American pumpkins? Apparently so. Here is a site devoted to recipes for utilizing flowers, leaves and seeds of the pumpkin! 

   Paxie tells us that Mealie Meal or Maize Meal “a basic food of Africa” – it is a very coarse flour ground from corn. She said some people cook it quickly as porridge but she prefers to soak it for at least half an hour and then simmer for at least an hour. Then add salt and butter. Or for a dinner dish add grated cheese, crushed garlic, salt and serve with gravy.

   The book dwells a lot on biscuits, cakes, jams … and Paxie tells how to make soap but warns that the ingredients are dangerous. The warning refers to caustic soda and lye. She recommends making soap with sheep or beef fat.

                             Brookhilda Enjoyed the Book

   One reference I found to the book was on a site operated by Brookhilda, a blogging world traveler. The writer tells of buying a copy of “Bundu” at the Natural History Museum in Bulawayo (I contacted Dr. Moira FitzPatrick, director who told me yes, they once had the book but “We have no contact information for the author.” She recommended a publisher to contact, but that was another dead end: “Unfortunately we have never heard of the book you are seeking.”)

   Brookhilda paid only $10 for the book at the museum, I don’t know how long ago. She    was much taken with a recipe, “Maponi Worms.”

   Well, here you are: “Turn worm inside out on index finger to remove intestines.  You need 1 cup of maponi – wash them first, put them in pot, pour in 3 cups of water.  Add plenty of salt and boil.  Leave to boil for 10 minutes, then throw the water away.  Add oil, fry until they come up dry. You can also add tomatoes if you like.”

   Brookhilda says she bought the worms dried but didn’t try to eat them. They are said to taste like dried wood and therefore are usually sold with a sauce.

Recipes are also offered for crickets, locusts and flying ants.

                      And What Became of Paxie?

   But back to the mystery, who was Paxie and what has become of her?

   I thought I had found her daughter in law on FaceBook but the account isn’t active any more.

   From what I can find, it seems Paxie was the widow of Robin Watson, a white plantation owner who stayed on after independence in 1980.  Her sons inherited the plantation but seem to have lost it to armed militia and there is no information after 2016. At that time George Watson said his lands had been seized, his mother pushed around by the invaders, and it seemed he would relocate to a neighboring country. But there has been no news.

   Zimbabwe is reclaiming all “colonial” lands, a process that critics say has brought on food shortages and an economic crisis.