Cuisine – South Africa

Food in South Africa is often cosmopolitan in nature, but there are some superb local recipes, originating from the which are the result of the mix ofed cultures. Below you can read about some dishes that will add spice to your trip.

Walk along the streets of any major town in South Africa and you will find superb restaurants offering food that follows the latest trends in international cuisine. However South Africa has a delicious style of cooking all of its own that has grown out of a fusion of the food eaten by the indigenous population and that of the European settlers.

The earliest inhabitants of the Cape had the abundance of the seashore as a food source and the Khoi people cooked abalone, rock lobster, seaweed and mussels often with fat from the tails of the sheep they kept. Today there are some areas where you can still gather mussels and clams straight from the sea, however these are subject to strict environmental limitations and the occasional “red tide”, so perhaps the best option is to go to somewhere like the Waterfront in Cape Town where you can eat seafood to you heart's content.

Malay slaves were brought to the Cape to look after the Dutch East India Company's gardens and with them came the rich array of spices that enrich today's dishes. Among the food on offer is delicious Bobotie, a delightful combination of mincemeat, ginger, chillies and other flavours all topped by a savoury form of custard. In addition to curries, which are very different from the Indian type both in taste and the way they are served, you will find tomato and bean Bredies which are thick stews slow-cooked and redolent with herbs, spices and ginger. A visit to one of the spice stores in the Bokaap region of Cape Town (an area where the descendants of the slaves live) is a treat for the senses of any cook or food-lover.

No mention of South African food would be complete without referring to the ubiquitous braaivleis or barbecue evident from the smell of grilling meat that permeates neighbourhoods at weekends. On the grill you will most likely find sosaties, a Cape Malay version of sate made with mutton and marinated in a curry sauce, and boerevors (farmers sausage) or a three legged pot cooking potjiekos (a spiced type of stew) over an open fire.

Game in the form of antelope and, in some places even crocodile, is on offer in many specialist restaurants. Then there is biltong, which is meat, either buck or beef, that has been marinated in spices and hung in the air to dry, rather like the North American jerky. No self-respecting South African would consider a journey without a good supply of biltong to hand.

On street corners vendors roast mielies (corn on the cob) in much the same way chestnuts are cooked in Europe. The African diet has always been healthy, consisting of meat cooked in rich gravy with greens and dried maize kernels ground fine into maize-meal or mielie-meal. This meal is used for everything from sour-milk porridge to dumplings, crumbly phutu to fine-grained mieliepap. Dried and broken maize kernels called samp with beans, or umngqusho, is also a classic and delicious African dish. There are, at long last, restaurants opening where you can sample these mouth watering dishes, or you could opt for a total experience in a place like Molo in the wine lands of the Western Cape, where you dine in tree houses while being entertained by local dancers and singers.

South Africa has some of the finest wines to sample. A journey through the wine lands is a must as this is where you will find the legacy left by the Huguenots who fled religious persecution in France. Here you can dine in the luxurious estate homes and sample the fine wines produced by each. Many fine South African wines do not even make it through the export process, as they are so much in demand locally. South African grape varieties are mostly “New World” and you will find Sauvignons and Chardonnays as well as some excellent Shiraz.

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