imifino, noun

Forms:
Also imfino, mfino.
Plurals:
Usually noncount, but occasionally with plural imifinos.
Origin:
IsiXhosa, IsiZuluShow more IsiXhosa imifino, isiZulu imfino, imifino (singular umfino), edible herbs cooked as a vegetable.
morogo.
1941 Juana in Bantu World 25 Jan. (Suppl.) 3The next dish..was..a kind of Native Spinach but ever so much nicer than Spinach. This was the ‘Imifino’ which the women take so much trouble to gather in the fields. Just a weed to those who do not know it.
1970 Heard & Faull Cookery in Sn Afr. 477African Spinach (Imifino)...Amadumbi shoots — this is the most delicious of all the imifinos.
1980 S. Afr. Digest 16 May 16This porridge is the favourite of the Zulu, Swazi and Xhosa people who traditionally serve it with sour milk (amasi) or wild green vegetable stew (imfino/marogo).
1986 J. Conyngham Arrowing of Cane 26Moses..serves my dinner of steak and kidney pie and imfino. I have loved the latter since childhood when, like the black women, I picked it between rows of cane.
1991 M-Net TV 4 Aug. (Carte Blanche)It is believed that eating these wild plants, or imifino as they’re called here, inhibits the body’s absorption of calcium.
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19411991