Self-taught foodie and social media influencer Mmule Setati sits down with editor Chad January to talk about her family and inspiration, Feed my Tribe’s online success and her first cookbook.
Growing up in Johannesburg, young Mmule knew that she wanted to live the best life she possibly could. Now, at the age of 30, she’s the mother of two boys (Motheo, 7, and Maruo, 3), wife to Kwena Setati, a social media superstar and recently a cookbook author. One can honestly say that she’s stayed true to her goals.
FAMILY, FOODIES AND FERMENTING IDEAS
“Food played a huge role in my life growing up. It was what brought us together on a Sunday afternoon at my maternal grandmother’s house. It was my escape from reality in my teens when my parents Nomsa and Mpho were going through their separation/divorce,” says Mmule. The kitchen became a place of comfort when life around her felt like it was falling apart. Mmule’s maternal grandmother was her biggest foodie influence.
She was known for warmly welcoming all visitors and for feeding them copious amounts of delicious home-cooked food. The kitchen was not only a safe space for Mmule but also a classroom where she was taught valuable life lessons. One of these was making traditional fermented beer. “I clearly remember my grandmother sitting me down and explaining in detail that the process of making umqhomboti was meant to be done by someone pure of mind and thought, as this would affect the quality.
She always said that when you decide to make umqhomboti, you pray from the moment you sift all the dry ingredients and set your intention for the beer. The process is meant to be an acknowledgement of your ancestors. Once the beer has formed thick creamy bubbles, it means they have acknowledged you and your pure intentions, and are happy with the process,” explains Mmule.
“This is something that I am definitely passing on to my two boys.” “As a black woman, most people in my community and family can cook (and really well, too!),” Mmule says with a chuckle. “I was influenced by my father’s side of the family, which is clear in the SeTswana cooking and recipes which I have included in Feed my Tribe.” She carries those teachings close to her heart, so she has kept most of the traditional recipes as authentic as possible.
CRAVING CONTENT
Becoming a foodie and influencer had not always been on the cards for Mmule. In 2017, she was blown away by the food experience she had while on honeymoon in Croatia and Italy. “It was a tastebud explosion that I won’t forget,” says Mmule. She was inspired to incorporate these new-found flavours into her cooking back home and started sharing her food on her Instagram page, Feed My Tribe.
With just under 50 000 followers, it’s a name for which she is now quite famous. The idea behind it was to find something that was inclusive and that would speak to any race, culture and country. “Food, and its cooking and preparation, is a very spiritual thing for me. When I create a meal, I very rarely follow trends. I rather listen to God and His guidance, which this allows me to cook from the heart.” She also draws inspiration from her childhood. “When I remember something, I rush to the kitchen and document it,” she says.
Mmule also has a knack for recreating classic dishes from other countries (even those she hasn’t yet experienced first-hand). This hunger to play with flavours is what inspires her to teach people new ways of cooking and show them that their tastebuds can travel far beyond what they know.
ON A LOW HEAT
“The year 2019 was a very difficult one for the Setati household,” she shares. “I was pregnant with my second son, while running a juice business (Frutal Juice) and Feed My Tribe. After giving birth, I was diagnosed with postpartum depression and suddenly it felt like my world was closing in on me. Then, one morning I was making milk for my son. Just seconds later, he was lying on the floor after falling off the kitchen counter.
He suffered a subdural haematoma (when a pool of blood pushes on the brain following a head injury) which landed him in hospital,” Mmule recalls. She realised that in times of distress and hardship, slowing down in what is needed. She turned to meditation and communicating with God to heal.
“The kitchen became my place of peace and where I expressed my emotions through food and developing recipes.”
Fast forward three months and South Africa landed in its first hard lockdown, leading to problems at Frutal Juice. “I spent every day of lockdown cooking. I’d spend hours in the kitchen where I almost lost my son. It became my place of peace and where I expressed my emotions through food and developing recipes.
This was my way of self-soothing and of connecting more with my husband and kids,” says Mmule. That year, her Feed my Tribe Instagram page grew immensely, and this pushed her to close her juice business. She decided to start cooking classes, The Yin & Yang.
BOILING UP AGAIN
“I strongly believe in manifestation and putting in the work to back it up. After closing my juice business, I was stuck in a rut and extremely anxious about my future,” Mmule explains. I always wanted to be a leading businesswoman like the ones you see in magazines and having to close my business meant those plans fell away.
I felt a huge sense of loss, pain and failure.” Mmule sat down with her life coach to plan her future. She wrote down her goals for Feed My Tribe and what she wanted to do in the next six months, then the next year. “I wanted to work with big brands, make and sell aprons and take my online presence offline by hosting cooking classes. Writing a cookbook was written down as a five-year goal,” she recalls.
COOKING UP A STORY
Getting right to work, Mmule wrote new recipes for Feed My Tribe and started to get more personal, sharing stories of her struggles as a mom and wife. “After 10 months, the publisher Penguin Random House approached me,” she says. “I don’t know what I had in mind when I thought about writing a cookbook, but it isn’t easy,” she says. “In the first few months, I was relaxed because I had one full year to hand in my manuscript.
One day, the writing bug bit me and I couldn’t stop. I spent months researching, writing, testing recipes and still juggling my life.” Mmule hopes to attend culinary school overseas in the next five years so she can be immersed in another food culture. When it comes to writing, she intends to write a kids’ recipe book filled with stories and life lessons. And with her “best life” just getting started, she’d like to look back one day and write it all down.
What’s cooking with Mmule Setati
IF YOU COULD COOK FOR ONE FOODIE, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHAT WOULD BE ON THE MENU?
Tough one! Nigella Lawson – she was one of the first women I saw in the kitchen. I was drawn to her style and flair, her relatability and her calm. I would make a classic Feed My Tribe meal – Festive Feast – for her. It’s food from different countries in Africa (Pilau, Tunisian lamb stew, Moroccan harira, Mozambican chicken and prawns, jolloff, misir wot from Ethiopia, ting and pounded beef from SA) … So, a proper spread!
NAME ONE INGREDIENT YOU CAN’T STAND TO COOK WITH.
Hake… what a boring piece of fish!
IF YOU HAD TO EAT ONE MEAL FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
No! I’d rather starve! I can choose a cuisine though… if it had no weight-gaining implications, I would eat Italian food every day.
WHAT IS YOUR GO-TO MIDWEEK FAMILY RECIPE?
A hot bowl of spaghetti bolognaise or a healthy boujee bowl (protein, baby spinach, black beans, avo and sour cream). If all else fails uphutu and maas (crumbled pap and fermented sour milk).
HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN A WORK/LIFE BALANCE?
I’m still learning! It is so tricky because the lines can become blurred very easily. I only let people into my kitchen and everything else is private. Once I’m done cooking, shooting, and editing then I switch off and enjoy family time.
Feed my Tribe is available at all bookstores.
<Photographs> Saadiqah Assur With Penguin Random House
