READ
For food travellers and historians at heart
TIMELESS SOUTH AFRICAN by Ilsa van der Merwe
Writer, stylist and TV presenter van der Merwe continues her fairly rapid ascent to the forefront of Cape Town’s food culture with this broad and detailed survey of South African cooking. All the classic dishes, and many lesser-known recipes, are covered with lavish photography and plenty of loving contextual detail. Through the book, we get a full-immersion approach to making everything from vetkoek to bunny chow, complete with their origin stories and surrounding cultural significance.
For the love of plant-based food
EARTHLING FOOD by Louis Jansen van Vuuren and Isabella Niehaus
Recent winner of Best Book at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, the latest from this partnership between van Vuuren and Niehaus places vegan food in a South African milieu. Drawing on conversations with a select group of 10 chefs and other major kitchen influences, the pages are gorgeously arranged to set quotes, photos, personal stories and memories around its central plant-based recipes, with plenty of info about the country’s native produce and growers.
For the lover of comfort food
THE GOOD STUFF by Karl Tessendorf
Another Cape Towner with an impressive track record in food writing, Tessendorf has previously devoted himself to South Africa’s knack for eating outdoors. After a run of books about alfresco customs and rituals surrounding braais, potjies and boerewors cooked over fire, this is his first set of recipes and related tips to be firmly based within the household kitchen. It’s all about comfort food this time, too, geared toward group meals shared out in generous portions – pastas, bakes, roasts and so on.
WATCH
THE ULTIMATE BRAAI MASTER
Originally broadcast on South African TV but now available to stream on Netflix, this popular cooking contest puts pitmasters through various challenges that demand quick, creative thinking under pressure and over the coals. The braai is a very specific South African form of barbecue but different chefs and regions have their own distinct variations, and each episodes takes place in a new part of the country while showcasing new recipes in the process.
LISTEN
FROM BILTONG TO BOBOTIE — JOURNEYS IN SOUTH AFRICAN CUISINE
Available to listen through the BBC, this five-part radio programme ranges right across the cuisine of the Rainbow Nation. Host Lindsay Johns structures each episode as a kind of travel essay, going deep into the cultural life of each region and its recipes, from Durban curries to the Gatsby steak sandwich.
