Fatty Meat in Zulu
roasting bag for poultry or meat
A piece of fat is no-ni in Zulu. Fat in general is called amafutha, but a piece of meat where there is more fat than meat, is no-ni.
Meat with a lot of fat is cheaper and poorer families all over the world rely on it. They cannot afford to buy sirloin steak, t-bone or boneless top round roast like Buckingham Palace, Wall Street fat cats, NBA folks and Spanish Liga Liga soccer stars.
During slavery, slave owners ate the best meat cuts and threw away the fatty stuff. It ended up in slave cabins and pots. They didn’t have a choice now, did they?
Nobody likes a-mano-ni including kids. They have sharp eyes and complain that there is no meat on their plates, only a-mano-ni (pieces with too much fat).
Ladies can get fat, and they don’t like it and don’t you dare make a comment about their weight. It was a good thing in the olden days because it meant their husbands were taking care of them. They go into the marriage as slender girls, and gain weight as time goes on.
Some black men prefer women on the round side, which might sound sexist but that’s the way it is. Just turn yourself into a fly and hear what they say about thin women.
Gaining weight (no-na) is back in fashion because of HIV/AIDS which sucks out life from patients leaving them pathetically thin. Some die in the process. Therefore, people don’t take kindly to the comment about losing weight. It insinuates something.
Death. Someone dies. Friends and neighbours come to the wake and curse the earth for taking a good man and woman: “you earth, will never be fat.” It means people die all the time but the earth is still not fat/gained weight. mhlaba ka-wu-no-ni.
Noni means grandparents in Italian if I’m not mistaken. No-ni, the Zulu word for a piece of fatty meat is pronounced as noni, the term for grandparents in Italian.
Nona means grandmother in Italian. That is how you pronounce no-na (getting fat) in Zulu.
A-ma-noni, many pieces of meat. You pronounce the first and second part like Ama, a girl’s name.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: You pronounce -u- like ooze, not uniform or U-Haul.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
Meat with a lot of fat is cheaper and poorer families all over the world rely on it. They cannot afford to buy sirloin steak, t-bone or boneless top round roast like Buckingham Palace, Wall Street fat cats, NBA folks and Spanish Liga Liga soccer stars.
During slavery, slave owners ate the best meat cuts and threw away the fatty stuff. It ended up in slave cabins and pots. They didn’t have a choice now, did they?
Nobody likes a-mano-ni including kids. They have sharp eyes and complain that there is no meat on their plates, only a-mano-ni (pieces with too much fat).
Ladies can get fat, and they don’t like it and don’t you dare make a comment about their weight. It was a good thing in the olden days because it meant their husbands were taking care of them. They go into the marriage as slender girls, and gain weight as time goes on.
Some black men prefer women on the round side, which might sound sexist but that’s the way it is. Just turn yourself into a fly and hear what they say about thin women.
Gaining weight (no-na) is back in fashion because of HIV/AIDS which sucks out life from patients leaving them pathetically thin. Some die in the process. Therefore, people don’t take kindly to the comment about losing weight. It insinuates something.
Death. Someone dies. Friends and neighbours come to the wake and curse the earth for taking a good man and woman: “you earth, will never be fat.” It means people die all the time but the earth is still not fat/gained weight. mhlaba ka-wu-no-ni.
Noni means grandparents in Italian if I’m not mistaken. No-ni, the Zulu word for a piece of fatty meat is pronounced as noni, the term for grandparents in Italian.
Nona means grandmother in Italian. That is how you pronounce no-na (getting fat) in Zulu.
A-ma-noni, many pieces of meat. You pronounce the first and second part like Ama, a girl’s name.
| ZULU | ENGLISH |
| Mhlaba ka-wunoni ngo-mama. | Earth, you’ll never get fat for taking my mother. |
| U-zo-nona u-ma uphuza ubhiye. | You’ll get fat if you drink beer. |
| U-ngiphakele irayisi nama-noni. | She served me rice and fatty meat. |
| I-ngi-lube inama-noni, | Pork has fatty meat. |
| Wa-no-na. Umithi? | You are fat. Are you pregnant? |
| A-ngi-funi u-ku-nona. | I don’t want to get fat. |
| A-ma-models a-wa-funi u-ku-nona. | Models don’t want to get fat. |
| U-Zakithi u-saba u-ku-nona. | Zakithi is scared of getting fat. |
| Lenyama i-noni-le. | This meat in full of fat. |
| U-Rose u-thanda i-nyama e-nonile | Rose likes fatty meat. |
| Ngi-ya-wathanda ama-noni. | I like fatty meat. |
| Le-ndawo inoni-le. | This piece of land is rich, fertile. |
ALWAYS REMEMBER: You pronounce -u- like ooze, not uniform or U-Haul.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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