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.

Democratising Food Writing

By |2020-06-10T11:54:21+02:00September 11th, 2019|Chefs, Featured Articles, Food, People, Reported Work, South Africa, South African Tourism|

When the late U.S restaurant critic Jonathan Gold wrote about food, he invariably commented on the irrational fear white Americans have of their neighbours, forging connections along the way. Ishay Govender breaks it down in our local context.(@IshayGovender), For Sunday Times, August 2018 The future is female.. Image: Yandisa Nazo/Ekse Lens Recently, a [...]

Mealie Meal Pap Recipe

By |2020-06-10T11:55:27+02:00September 11th, 2019|Featured Articles, Food, Food Culture, Recipes, Reported Work|

Creamy Mealie Meal Pap Mealie meal pap or porridge is a breakfast dish of milled white maize enjoyed across demographics in South Africa. By Ishay Govender (@IshayGovender). For Woolworths TASTE, September 2018, story: Things we Found in the Fire Mealie meal pap eaten simply with sugar and milk or with golden syrup and [...]

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 [...]

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