Mealie pap – white maize meal porridge

By |2023-08-02T14:15:44+02:00September 11th, 2019|Africa, Featured Article, Food, Food & Travel, Food Culture, History, Published, recipe, Recipes, Reported Work, South Africa, Travel in Africa|

On cold mornings, I recall my mother bustling about in our suburban South African kitchen, ladling out bowls of creamy mealie meal papor porridge. Hot from the saucepan, she’d stir in a little more milk and sugar, and occasionally, a cube of cold, unsalted butter and a tablespoonful of tinned golden syrup.

The dark, Complicated History of Durban Curry

By |2023-08-02T14:22:44+02:00September 11th, 2019|Africa, Cities, Curries & Casseroles, Durban, Featured Articles, Food, Food Culture, History, India, Indian Food Easy Peasy, Nostalgia, Published, Reported Work, South Africa, Travel and Culture|

On South Africa’s palm tree-lined east coast, within the humid port city of Durban and its surrounds, a unique style of Indian cuisine has evolved over the course of 158 years. Locals say you can’t leave before you try one of the Durban curries: smouldering hot mutton curry studded with potato chunks called “gravy soakers,” fiery fish curry spiked with black tamarind and curry leaves; or bunny chow, a hollowed-out quarter-loaf of white bread filled with curry.

An Ode to Rooibos 

By |2023-08-02T14:23:20+02:00September 11th, 2019|Africa, Destination Meals, Drinks, Featured Articles, Food & Travel, Food Culture, Home, Published, Reported Work, South Africa, South African Tourism, Travel, Travel and Culture|

You are ten-years-old when you first taste black tea and honey, only the tea is a rich amber hue and the honey is tempered with a slice of gnarly-skinned Eureka lemon from the backyard. Your grandma and aunties drink milky Ceylon tea like fancy Five Roseswhen there are guests or Trinco for daily consumption, with three teaspoons of white sugar, buttered Marie biscuits on the side.

Kobus van der Merwe Forages at Wolfgat

By |2020-01-30T15:16:06+02:00September 11th, 2019|Africa, Chefs, Destination Meals, Featured Articles, Fine Dining, Food, Food & Travel, Food Culture, Patrenoster, Profile, Restaurants, Seafood, South Africa, Travel, West Coast, What to eat, Where to stay|

The salty tang of fresh kelp lifts on a crisp breeze, across the cream-colored sands of Die Krans in Paternoster, once the lookout for fishermen monitoring the weather. Kobus van der Merwe stands on the verandah of his sparse 20-seater restaurant, a 130-year-old fisherman’s cottage called Wolfgat, about two hours from Cape Town, overlooking this point.

Slow Food – Disco World Soup Day

By |2018-05-04T06:42:51+02:00April 29th, 2018|Africa, Food, Food Culture, Going Green, Green Matters, Soups & Stews, South Africa, Travel in Africa|

On 28 April 2018 Slow Food chapters around the world gathered to celebrate the use of sustainable produce, scraps and leftovers, by preparing pots of soup and sharing a meal. This was the third Disco World Soup Day - here's what went down at the Cape Town gathering. Words, Food & the Fabulous® intern Nwabisa Ngumbela.  [...]

Curry Traditions Across South Africa

By |2020-06-10T12:20:51+02:00February 10th, 2018|Africa, Cape Town, Cities, Durban, Featured Articles, Food, Food & Travel, Food Culture, Johannesburg, SA Curry Book, South Africa, Travel and Culture, What to eat|

Traveling across South Africa, Ishay Govender goes in search of a curry that defines the nation. Written for Fine Dining Lovers.   Gilbert's Lamb Curry Is there one definitive dish that South Africans love and prepare? It’s common knowledge that the country comprises a variety of cultural, ethnic and religious groups, with as many [...]

Zayaan Khan – Food Activist

By |2018-04-30T14:40:45+02:00August 21st, 2017|Africa, Cape Town, Featured Articles, Food, Food Culture, Profile, Reported Work, South Africa|

Food activist, seed librarian and community-driven leader, Zayaan Khan is changing the foodscape from the ground up. Written for Kululu's inflight magazine, Khuluma, 21 June 2017 Featured in Kulula's inflight magazine, Khuluma.  Food As Sustenance, Knowledge, Life “Try this,” Capetonian Zayaan Khan (32) says, a headscarf draped loosely bandana-style over her cropped bob. [...]

A Cheese Excursion Through Cape Town & Surrounds

By |2017-07-26T16:14:07+02:00July 26th, 2017|Africa, Bree Street, Cape Town, Cheese, Dairy, Featured Articles, Food, Markets, Restaurants|

South Africa’s food capital offers wheels, wedges, and wine aplenty. Written by Ishay Govender-Ypma for Culture Cheese Magazine , July 2017. A Cheese Excursion Through Cape Town. [Note this article is written in American English] Feature in the Culture Cheese Magazine For visitors and armchair travellers alike, Cape Town conjures visions of majestic Table Mountain, [...]

Dim Sum Restaurants in South Africa

By |2018-04-30T16:22:18+02:00April 30th, 2017|Africa, Asian Food, Cape Town, Featured Articles, Fine Dining, Food, Food Culture, Reported Work, Restaurants, South Africa, What to eat|

Yum cha, or dim sum as it’s known in the West, refers to the act of taking tea. Here’s a countrywide dim sum restaurant round-up to satisfy your cravings for these moreish bites. Written by Ishay Govender-Ypma (@IshayGovender) for Financial Mail. dim sum Dim sum has its roots in the Cantonese morning tradition of [...]

Lunch with Slow Food’s Carlo Petrini

By |2017-04-19T10:59:06+02:00August 24th, 2016|Africa, Cape Town, Going Green, People, South Africa, Travel in Africa|

Lunch with Slow Food's Carlo Petrini - a photo essay. On 17th August 2016, I attended a private lunch with Slow Food's Carlo Petrini, founder and president of the movement ( Slow Food International), on the last official day of his tour through South Africa, his first visit to southern Africa. Just prior to that he [...]

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