There’s a tin in almost every South African home. Big, always full, and usually somewhere in the kitchen within easy reach. In ours, the beskuit tin was part of a fixed ritual, and that ritual was Sunday morning.
My brother, my sister and I had a job: make coffee for the whole family. Still in our pajamas, half asleep, but with a real sense of duty, because this was our work. We’d make the coffee, grab the tin from its spot, and carry it all through to my parents’ bedroom together.
There, on their bed, with pillows everywhere and the tin somewhere in the middle, we’d drink coffee and eat beskuit while we talked about what the day, or the week, would bring. No rush, no phones, just five people, hot coffee and enough beskuit for everyone.
I think back on those mornings often. The sound of the tin lid coming off, who got first pick, my mom always saying there was still plenty left when the tin was already nearly empty. That’s the feeling I want to pass on with every packet of beskuit that leaves Suikerbekkie Keuken: not just a treat, but an excuse to sit down together.
So if you buy our beskuit, my advice: make a pot of coffee, get comfortable, and take your time. That’s how it’s meant to be.