By Ndaba Dlamini

SOWETO looks as if it's ablaze: smoke spirals from almost every street corner and, beneath the grey plumes, women wrapped in colourful cloth sit, tending blazing braziers.

A tantalising smell rises from around the women, where a heap of reddish-brown chicken feet are roasting on a grill, occasionally being given a toss or turn by the roasters.

It's Saturday morning in Soweto, the biggest township in South Africa and home to more than 800 000 people.

Already there is a buzz of activity around bottle stores where people, most of them men, meet for "one to take away the headache" - and for a bite of the most popular delicacy in Soweto.

Chicken feet - known as "chicken dust", "Nandos", "amahotwane" or "dihlakoane", depending on where in Soweto you are - have taken the township by storm. Vendors have sprung up on every street corner almost overnight, trying to cash in on the boom.

"Chickens raise a lot of dust when they scratch the ground looking for food. That's why people call these snacks 'chicken dust'," explains the vendor affectionately known as Sis Mary, who runs a "roastery" in Diepkloof Zone 1.

"Some people call the chicken feet 'Nandos' after a well-known chicken food outlet. I guess they compare this delicacy to their products. But this product is in greater demand and is very delectable," she boasts.

Feet are a lot cheaper than the food from commercial outlets. A roast chicken foot can cost as little as 50c, including extras such as peri-peri and other spices on the side. Customers can also choose between "well-done" or "regular" feet.

"Some customers like their chicken feet tender so we scrape off the scales - we call these well-done. But the price is no different from the regular feet," explains Rosa Mabunda, a vendor from Orlando East.

Chicken feet are served on a piece of newspaper, with no garnish.

Some vendors offer chicken heads at the same price, but these are less popular.

The street-side stove consists of a grill of wire mesh placed on a slow-burning brazier. A metal sheet, placed strategically in front of it, is a windshield.

The burning question is: why have chicken feet become such a phenomenon in the township?

"I started roasting chicken feet about two months ago. I really can't say who started the trend. I had noticed the popularity of 'amahotwane' and decided to cash in on the trade. People just love them. Maybe it's the way we fry them," Mabunda says.

"The feet come cheap and people don't have to bother cooking. We provide that service to them."

Mabunda's customers are diverse. Children, men, women and the elderly buy from her.

"Traditionally chicken feet are a delicacy for children. Men ate the chicken breast and women drumsticks. Now everybody just loves chicken feet."

The hours kept by the chicken dealers are irregular. Mabunda says she stays open as late as midnight if business is good. There are no closing or opening times.

As for the names of the suppliers: they are not readily divulged. Mabunda says she buys a box of chicken feet from "somewhere near the Orlando East railway station".

Yunus Omar - of Dawood F & Son, a company that distributes chicken products in Soweto - says sales of chicken offal have risen in the past few months. And there has been a significant rise in the demand for chicken feet.

"We cannot give an exact percentage of the rise in sales at the moment, but we have experienced a significant increase in demand for chicken offal from some chicken-meat outlets in Soweto."

Tales of the aphrodisiac properties of chicken feet abound. One rumour has it that men and women can revitalise their sex lives if chicken feet are eaten with certain medicinal herbs. This claim, of course, remains unproven.