ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the portrayal of agriculture and foodways in Botswana in Bessie Head's novels, short stories, and nonfiction writings to show that while Head provides a detailed and empathetic portrayal of women's roles in the growing of foodstuffs and the creation of food, her discussion of agriculture in her adopted country underemphasizes the extent to which colonialism and imported agricultural practice affected the foodways in Southern Africa. The overgrazing and the small amount of land producing vegetables that Gilbert Balfour sees as problems ultimately emerge from the expectations of the colonial agricultural project which emphasized raising more cattle in order to support the burgeoning urban population. The fact of the matter is that Bessie Head overlooked the ways colonial capitalism had already changed the Village of the Rain Wind, had already transformed the lives of villagers and introduced poverty through the mechanism of export agriculture.
