In our exciting feature My Welcome To The League Moment, former Platinum Stars defender Enocent Mkhabela reminisces with KickOff about the big dietary adjustment he had to make at the club.
The Mpumalanga-born player says his Welcome To The League moment happened during a pre-match meal where he had to eat stuff he was not familiar with.
"Remember, some of us, we were from the villages where pap was the main thing, so this thing of eating stuff like macaroni and mince meat, some of us we were not used to it. We still wanted to add pap on top," he tells KickOff.
"To me, eating macaroni and mince was the same as eating umshibo wodvwana.
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"We wanted pap on top of it, not aware that having such would be exactly like eating starch with starch.
"Remember, at our homes macaroni was served as a meal side. They would also add rice, salad, meat... in one plate.
"So, to me, it was a culture shock at Platinum Stars to have macaroni and meat only as a pre-match meal. I was told it was nutrition.
"There I was checking (in) every food bowl if I could find some bread, pap, or even rice inside. I remember how surprised I was when my teammates told me there was none. I was told there you can't have macaroni and pap in one dish [laughs].
"It was my first season in the PSL, I was from the Vodacom League where we had pap 30 minutes before a match and had no issues during that match, and now all of a sudden I had to adapt to having light meals as pre-match meals.
"When I got back home in Mpumalanga during a (FIFA) break, I offered to cook for the family [laughs]. I said to them, 'Today I want you guys to eat something new.' That night we had spaghetti, mashed potato and mince.
"They couldn't believe their eyes .Everyone was asking, 'Where is the pap?' I explained to them that you can't have starch with starch because that was not the correct way of eating [laughing]. I told them that's what a pre-match meal looks like.
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"But in my first camp with the club, I struggled with this new way of eating, I must say. I even went to the extent of adding buttered bread to my plate.
"I was not used to this thing of having a pre-match meal three hours before a game. Where I was from, we had our meals 30 minutes before a match.
"I only started to cope in my third match, my body felt lighter during games. I understood that the purpose of pre-match meals was not to fill your tummy but to keep yourself energised."