A sweet touch to the year It’s that delicious time of the year when the days are hot, the sky is dotted with clouds of promise and juicy summer fruit is sold alongside the roads. One of the sweetest fruits of all, the rounded sweet melon or ‘spanspek’, is more than a treat for the taste-buds and its story is one of the sweetest tales to come out of southern Africa. Lady Juana Maria Smith was well-loved wherever she went. Those who met her during her adventurous life, at the side of her beloved husband, were enchanted. In southern Africa her memory even lives on in the name of a fruit, the sweet melon or spanspek as it’s known in South Africa and Namibia. Her husband, Sir Henry Smith (who preferred to be called Harry), served the British Crown at the Cape from 1828 until 1845. Eventually he became the first governor of the short-lived Queen Adelaide province in the Eastern Cape, where he and Lady Juana enjoyed great popularity with the Xhosa as well as the Boers. Harry was called to India for two years where he played an active role in the First Anglo-Sikh War and was knighted for his part in the British victory at the battle of Aliwal. He returned to South Africa in 1847 where he was appointed governor of the Cape Province. Amongst the stories from the couple’s South African years were those concerning the Smiths’ breakfast preferences. While Sir Harry enjoyed bacon and eggs for breakfast, Lady Juana didn’t like bacon and preferred fresh cantaloupe melon instead. In the Smith household these melons soon were called ‘Spanish bacon’, or ‘Spaanse spek’ in Afrikaans. And this, apparently, is how this particular type of melon became known as ‘spanspek’ in southern Africa. Cosy breakfast time aside, the couple’s love story also has a sweet touch. The pair met during turbulent times, during the Peninsular War of 1812, when British troops stormed the Spanish town of Badajoz. Among the inhabitants who fled the looting and sacking of the town were two sisters of noble birth, descendants of Juan Pons de Leon who is famed for discovering Florida. The sisters sought the protection of the British officers and 23-year-old Captain Smith was so smitten with the younger sister, 14-year-old Juana Maria de Los Dolores de Leon, that they were married within two weeks. Juana became a true army wife who followed her husband to every battle during the next three years of British campaigning, which culminated in the Battle of Waterloo. Names of several towns and places in South Africa still testify to the couple’s popularity and their love for each other. Ladismith in the Western Cape and Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal are named in honour of Juana, as well as Juanasberg in the Amatola Mountains, near Hogsback. Places named after Sir Harry are Harrismith in KwaZulu-Natal and Smithfield and Fauriesmith in the Free State. Sir Harry and Lady Juana were ordered back to Britain in 1852. Lady Juana is said to have wept when she boarded the ship to take her northwards away from the home that was so close to her heart. The great love story came to an end when Sir Harry died in 1860. Lady Juana was laid to rest at his side in Whittlesea in England 12 years later. In her last years, she declared on numerous occasions that their time in South Africa had been the happiest of her life. So, when you purchase spanspek along the roadside this season or bite into the mouth-watering flesh (in preference to fried bacon or not), spare a thought for the Spanish lady whose heart was full of love, for southern Africa and its generous bounty.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 12:12:48 +0000
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