Joining us on our blog for Part III of Cape Town Cuisine: Inspire Your Palette to discuss South Africa’s culinary scene and traditional cuisine is Pam McOnie. Pam is a brilliant tour guide based in Cape Town. With an obvious passion and endless knowledge for food, wine, and her lovely city, Pam is the ultimate treat to anyone’s itinerary. She was kind enough to share with us some of her knowledge about Cape Town’s culinary scenes, history, and traditions.
If you missed Part I of this post, feel free to view it here. Or, to view Part II of this post, click here.
Below is Part III of Pam’s entry on Cape Town cuisine:
WALKY TALKYS refer to eating the head and feet of the chickens—this is a favourite up in Gauteng.
SMILEYS refer to eating Sheep’s heads—the heads are cut in half and put on the BBQ; when the sheep smiles (i.e. its lips curl up), it is ready!
Image of tripe taken from Guardian.co.uk
**Image of tripe, to the left, was taken from Guardian.co.uk.
TRIPE is eaten extensively across the tribes in South Africa. This is not for the faint hearted!
FROM THE BRITISH: We got the influence of English food onto the tables of South Africa. The British invaded in 1795, exited in 1803, and then reinvaded again in 1806. From then on we were a British colony and, because of this, items such as Sunday Roasts came onto the tables of the Cape. A lasting legacy that the British left was baked puddings. So do not forget to try and taste Malva pudding while you are in South Africa. It is a good idea not to Google the recipe before you eat it as the amount of butter in it makes it slightly sinful! It is delicious, which makes it a local favourite—you’ll find it on local menus throughout the country.
FROM THE AFRIKAANS: Note that Afrikaans is a dialect of Dutch—it was a colloquial language formed so that the Dutch masters could communicate with their slaves and, as such, it contains words of Malayu, Yiddish, German and English—but the main base is Dutch.
By the late 1600s this was the everyday language of the Cape. There is a large overlap between the recipes of the Cape Malay community and the Afrikaans. The Cape Malay community claim they have more ownership as they were the ones cooking in the kitchens!
Today some of the common “foodie” lifestyle dishes that are part of everyday life in this country include:
Image of Braai taken from SA-Venues.com
**Image to the right taken from SA-Venues.com.
BRAAING: This is the South African BBQ, a national pastime in South Africa and one that our men take very seriously! A braai is always done over charcoal or wood, never gas! A typical South African braai would include: steak, chops or chicken, Boerewors (a traditional South African farmers sausage), and sosaties (kebabs). The braai usually has salads to accompany it and may have some vegetables also cooked on the fire (corn wrapped in foil etc!).
At a typical South African braai, the men will gather around the fire watching the meat, while the women prepare the side dishes and catch up in the kitchen. If you are invited to a “bring-and-braai” it means that you need to bring your own meat along and your own drinks—the host will prepare the rest.
Pinotage is the wine of choice for a braai. This is a South African varietal that goes extremely well with red meat.
In order to access a braai you usually need to meet a local to get invited. Finally in the Cape Winelands, one of the farms has now made this local delicacy accessible. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday lunch you can book to go and relax and enjoy a braai at Middelvlei wine estate. This is a gorgeous family owned and run wine estate. The meal starts with ROOSTERKOEK—a traditional South African bread cooked on the fire. The main dish is salad, potatoes, pampoenkoekies (pumpkin fritters which are dusted with cinnamon sugar), a chop, boerewors, and a sostatie, this is followed by either Malva pudding (British!) or Milk Tart (Afrikaans or Cape Malay—you decide!). www.middelvlei.co.za
POTJIE KOS: This refers to cooking in a large black pot over a fire. To access this, you will truly have to pick up a local as it is not easy to find access to. Traditionally, a potjie pot is filled up with layers of meat, followed by layers of vegetables, followed by layers of meat, followed by vegetables and so forth! Often, spices will be added.
The dish is most commonly done with beef or lamb—although it can be done with chicken and game meat, as well. This is a serious dish that is prepared by the men and it takes many hours and many cans of lager to cook. As such it is great for a social gathering as it requires minimal intervention and gives the men time to sit around the fire and chat for many hours—usually about sports. It is often combined with inviting your friends around to watch a rugby match—so you can watch the match and then simply serve the dish with rice afterwords.
This Article was written by Pamela McOnie who contributes to the “foodie” side of this website and also offers private guiding services and gourmet & wine tours of the Cape region.
