![]() Land dispossession and segregation during apartheid also disrupted traditions. This had the effect of diluting local traditions, but also creating a mosaic of new ones. After the arrival of colonists in the 19th century, local food traditions became fused with outside culinary influences over time, from Dutch and British dishes, to the delicacies brought over by slaves and laborers from Madagascar, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and coastal African countries like Mozambique. The evolution of local indigenous cuisine in South Africa has a long and complex history. Khubeka, founder of the popular restaurant Vuyo’s in Soweto, and Mqwebu, who was honored this week at the International Gourmand Awards in China, are members of a younger generation of chefs and business owners intent on shining attention on a part of South African culture that until recently has rarely received it. While both are shared cornerstones of South African cuisine, with roots in both Dutch and Khoi San culture, this habit is a sad reduction of an otherwise diverse culinary landscape. ![]() Indeed, confronted with the need to describe local cuisine to visiting friends or tourists, South Africans often fall back onto shishanyama or braai, meat grilled over an open fire, and biltong, a dried meat snack similar to beef jerky. You’re also more likely to find food from Ethiopia or Senegal in cities around the world than South African-themed spots. In tourism hotspots like Cape Town you can find representations of food culture from all around the globe, but with the exception of some Cape Malay offerings and one or two township restaurants, nothing quintessentially local. Yet local cuisine is conspicuously absent. According to data collected by tourism agency Explore Sideways in 2017, South Africa’s food tourism industry has experienced steady growth over the last three years. ![]() It hints at the beginnings of a new South African food culture that is proudly rooted in tradition, yet infused with creativity and young energy.Ī celebration of local cuisine is sorely missing in South Africa. Years later, the world class South African chef’s prized pumpkin dessert, inspired by her grandmother’s recipe, is one of the local delicacies featured in her 2017 cookbook, Through the eyes of an African chef. As a child, South African chef Nompumelelo Mqwebu would skip home from school, dreaming of the pumpkin pudding waiting for her at her grandmother’s house. ![]()
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