First of all, what does Pamtondo mean?
Pamtondo refers to 'women at the mortar' pounding maize into the flour. Nsima, Malawi's staple food is made from maize flour. Before the arrival of maize meals, and in the rural areas at present, pounding maize was one of two ways to make flour, the other being stone grinding. Because of the communal nature of maize pounding, a whole female culture exists around this task.