One
of my favorite parts about traveling is getting to sample new cuisines. Before
coming to South Africa, I was definitely excited to try new foods but what I
found most interesting is how connected food is to the various neighborhoods
and cultures in within the country. During our time in Cape Town we’ve done a
few food-centric excursions through which we learned a lot about the people
here.
On
one of our first nights in Cape Town, we went to one of the townships on the outskirts
of the city to Dine with Khayelitsha. This is a program where people from the
community open their homes to strangers to help break down barriers between
people from downtown Cape Town and people in Khayelitsha. The group who runs
this program is seeking to create a more positive image of the township through
food and conversation. Our whole group divided up into small groups and we each
went to a different family’s home to eat some traditional South African food
and chat with community members. We ate pap, chakalaka, and meat while talking
about education, Apartheid, and technology amongst other things. It was a
really unique experience that I was grateful to have had here. The guy who was
talking to my group was our age and it’s always great to connect with people
your age who have had very different experiences.
Another
excursion we did was a hands-on cooking demonstration in the Bo-Kaap
neighborhood, which has a large Cape Malay population. The Cape Malay people
are originally from Southeast Asia but came to South Africa as slaves for the
Dutch East India Company during the colonization period. Our host, Gamidah,
taught us how to many a variety of Cape Malay foods, which are similar to
Indian food. We made roti, samosas, and chicken curry. She also made sure to tell
us about all the health benefits of the spices used in the cuisine and about
some of the cultural practices behind the food we were eating. It was really
fascinating to see how connected she was with her family and ancestor’s culture
even though she’s always lived in South Africa. It just goes to show how
important food can be to help maintain one’s heritage.
Later
that same day we went to the District Six museum. District Six was a site of
forced removals during Apartheid. The community that was removed created a
museum to honor their neighborhood that once existed. One exhibit that was
really interesting to me was a wall lined with tea towels where people wrote
out their favorite recipes that reminded them of their lives in District Six. I
think it was interesting in the context of how we spent our morning. Food can
really bring communities together and represent more than just a meal. These
were the meals that remind them of their home that was taken away from them.
Later
that same week, we went to a restaurant in Khayelitsha called 4Roomed Foods.
This was a restaurant started by a woman named Abigail who grew up in the area
and competed on the Master Chef South Africa. She wanted to create a restaurant
that honored the township foods she grew up on but with an elevated twist. She
uses similar ingredients to typical South African foods like pap and chakalaka
but she serves them a little differently to show that South African food can be
a world-class cuisine. Everything she made was delicious. I particularly liked
her curry lamb dish and the pap mixed with butternut squash.
All
of these excursions we went on were really fun and defiantly delicious but what
was most interesting was that it showed me how important food is to people as a
cultural item. It really is something that can connect people to places they
once called home or to their family’s place of origin. I will definitely be
seeking out some South African food in the United States when I start to miss
some of the great food we have had here.
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