In the Southern Hemisphere, December does not arrive quietly.
It lands loud and smoky, carrying the scent of braais, the rhythm of ululation, the thud of basslines from wedding tents and street parties. It is Mgidi season in many Xhosa households, where cattle are slaughtered, families gather, elders speak, and meat simmers for hours.
It is graduation lunches, after-tears drinks, beach picnics, stokvel year-ends and last-minute celebrations because, frankly, we made it.
And yet, hovering over all this joy is a familiar anxiety: I’m eating too much.
By Boxing Day, many of us are already mentally drafting New Year’s resolutions, promising to “get back on track” as if joy has a deadline.
Modern diet culture frames holiday eating as failure. Biology, history and psychology tell a very different story.
Holiday…
