“Times are tough and there are struggles a’plenty living under a pandemic. We chat about coping, keeping positive and creative actions taken by four amazing South African women in food – TV chef and cookbook author Zola Nene, cook and activist Parusha Naidoo, chef and author Khanya Mzongwana and PhD candidate and seed historian Pralini Naidoo. Interviewed by journalist and SA POC founder Ishay Govender”

www.sapoctable.com

Feature image by Jess Wright

At first, I did it just for fun. Then people loved it and I loved it. So it continued. It started with bunny chows and then it exploded…

I saw it as a way to play with the idea of multiculturalism on a plate. It evolved from a single plate to a buffet of different traditional South African dishes, from Indian to Zulu to Jewish to Afrikaans to Cape Malay… And more sometimes.

This is roughly what I wrote and would give to my guests as a way to explain what they were eating:

Food is a way of preserving history. And a way of playing with history. It is tasty material evidence of the past’s influence on the present. This pop up dinner can be seen as a living archeological site. Gastro-historical. Post-colonial cuisine. A story of migration, occupation, slavery and cheap/free labour. It is one of the many stories of South Africa. And of the colonised world. Of trade and power. “Desegrate the plate”… is one of Chakalaka Tuesday’s themes. You are invited to curate your own cultural melting pot, a post-apartheid “new South Africa” on your plate. This is the spirit of South Africa but it is rare to find this sort of mixing of cuisines in South Africa itself. You don’t find pap (black African) with curry (Indian), bobotie (Cape Malay) and potjiekos (white Afrikaans) at the same table. Experience a mixing of cultures here through your senses of taste, touch and smell.

Below are a few snaps (unfortunately mostly low quality but they give you a feel of these events which occured bi-monthly for a year and then weekly for the last 6 months) from early 2014 to the late 2015:

Here is the final program for the talks.

MC: Nyiko Chauke

11:00 – 11:20 – CHIPS! Lightning Talks feat Lee-Ann Orton & Uno de Waal | OSTERIA VINCENZO

What you’ll get from this class:
* Three demonstrations for fillings/recipes
* A hands-on element of making pierogi
* Demonstration on how to make fruit vodkas
* Eating, relaxing and enjoying pierogi and vodka! Na zdrowie! Cheers!
* Recipes to take home

Places along the route are:
*Conscious108
*Free Food
*Elemental Cafe
*Fresh Earth
*Greenside Cafe

The class will have both a demonstration and a hands-on element.

There will be 3 dishes demonstrated and 3 dishes that you will get to make yourselves, plus at the end you will have time to eat and relax.

The class will also include advice on how to improve digestion with ingredients used in the class …

Price: R350 per person.

(Drinks will be available throughout the class but are not included in the cost)

To book please email parushanaidoo@gmail.com

For more information check out the event on Facebook here.

Experience palettes of colour, plates of flavour, in a magical art gallery cum wild garden setting…

Parusha is a local vegan chef and designer who spent over a decade in London and Berlin. She lives in Johannesburg and combines her love for food and art in her pop up events and cooking classes. She’ll be making a delicious African-Indian inspired lunch at Spaza Art Gallery using organic ingredients from Bertrams Inner City Farm, A Bambanani Food and Herb Cooperative Project.

The afternoon will also include soulful music by Davina Satori (https://soundcloud.com/satori-moon) and a bar by Kommunitea (https://www.facebook.com/thepolitepoliceman/) selling locally brewed craft beers, cocktails, kombucha and other botanical inspired drinks.

Come join us from 1pm to 4pm on the first Sunday 6th November.

Cost: R150 to support the space, enjoy a meal and music in the Spaza Art Gallery’s wild garden (Drinks sold separately).

For more information contact parushanaidoo@gmail.com or emp@intekom.co.za or visit the Facebook page here.

Type, touch and taste
Paint wild words
Get your hands messy
Play with your food
Eat with your hands

What you will do in this class:
* learn basic typography principles
* create hand-lettered artworks with brush, ink and quotes
* make flatbreads from scratch – mix, knead, roll
* make vegan sushi, a few varieties
* hand-roll dark chocolate pralines and create your own flavours
Then:
* relax and eat everything you make… plus a few additional dishes and salads

The pictures below are unfortunately low quality but give you a sense of what they involve:

(this is a raw vegan cooking class)