AFRICAN COOKING IN A TOWNSHIP

Today you will be collected from your hotel at 09h00 for your tour.

We start the day with a visit to the District 6 Museum in Cape Town. This is Cape Town’s apartheid museum. This museum represents the memories of a community on the outskirts of Cape Town where over 60 000 people were forcefully removed from the mid 1960’s to the mid 1980’s. This visit allows us the opportunity to discuss what led to apartheid in this country and to discuss how it was implemented.

From here we travel to Langa township to cook at a small cookery school that provides the local residents with the skills needed to get jobs in the kitchens of the top hotels in Cape Town. This is one of only a handful of full time cooking schools based in a Cape Township. The students are not from privileged hom es. As such the fees charged cannot be very high. Money needs to be raised in order to provide these kids with tuition, which is done through a variety of entrepreneurial ventures. They have created a restaurant out of shipping containers. Here they serve traditional African cuisine to the local community and to visitors. This facility is also used to cater for functions in the local area, as well as for the cooking classes.

This brings much needed revenue into the school. A visit to the school and restaurant is a unique opportunity for you to interact with a community initiative that is really working. Here you learn about African and Xhosa culture and cuisine. This is an opportunity to interact with the locals and also for you to leave your mark on your journey to Cape Town.

Your visit means that you are contributing in a small way to this project. 90% of the graduates secure a job. Incredible in a cou ntry with around 40% unemployment.

Highlights:

A welcome drink of ginger beer and a talk on African cuisine and culture

Hands-on cooking lesson where you learn to cook dishes like pap (similar to polenta), chakalaka, samp and a typical meat stew (note that in Africa a meal is not considered a meal if meat is not involved! 

African beer drinking – learn the correct way of sharing the Xhosa beer (for groups of 4 or more)

Optional – see how a Smiley is prepared and have the opportunity to taste one. A Smiley is a traditional delicacy enjoyed by the Xhosa people – the sheeps head is firstly placed on the BBQ to burn off any hair, it is then placed in a pot above a coal fire hearth (known as an Eziko) and gently cooked until the meat is tender. It looks a little intimidating! But tastes delicious!

Enjoy the dishes you have prepared in the schools restaurant and have the opportunity to taste a few other dishes that have been prepared in the restaurant.

CAPE MALAY COOKING IN THE BO-KAAP

Our day starts with a visit to the District 6 Museum – this is a small apartheid museum which holds the memories of the residents of District 6 – an area on the edge of Cape Town where over 60 000 people were forcefully removed.

We then do a short ramble through the city before we head through to the Bo-Kaap area. The Bo-Kaap represents the only area in the city of Cape Town where the Cape Malay community were not forcefully removed. It is a bright and colourful area that is one of the most photographed places in Cape Town. We enjoy a walk around the area and visit Atlas spices (which is the main spice shop), as well as two community projects in the area, before heading into a home of one of the ladies in the area. A visit to the area is well worth it and most people would not leave Cape Town without taking a photograph of the houses. However, the opportunity for you to interact with the people in an area is always limited. As such this is wonderfully unique opportunity to spend some time with the ladies in the community.

You can select to simply book for lunch or dinner with them, however, I would highly recommend that we come a little earlier and participate in the preparation of the lunch. This gives you time to chat to the ladies, to learn about their culture and their cuisine.

During your visit you will: 

Be welcomed with a glass of faloodah – a traditional rose syrup and milk drink § Learn to make rooti’s from scratch

Fold samoosas and cook them

Learn how to make a traditional Cape Malay curry OR a babotie ( a traditional South African mince dish that dates back to the late 1600′s) OR Denningvleis (a lamb dish made with Molasses (small supplement for lamb)

Sit down and enjoy the food you have made

Enjoy an interesting cup of cardamom tea at the end of the meal

Extend your tour to a FULL DAY TOUR - Note that it is recommended to combine the cooki ng morning with an afternoon exploring the city. This is completely flexible to your interests – so tell us what they are!

Ideas for the afternoon would be:

The opportunity to visit two community projects – Monkeybiz and Streetwires

Explore the city by walking and seeing the architecture and experiencing the vibe of the city, with stops to check out the flea market – Greenmarket Square various other wonderful shops such as Tribal trends (which is one of the top African art and crafts shops in Cape Town).

Do a walk back through history by visiting the Company Gardens and walking through the oldest parts of Cape Town § Head up Table Mountain if you have not made it up yet!

Or spend the Afternoon tasting wines in the Constantia Wine region (renowned for its sauvignon blanc’s, the sweet Vin de Constance and some excellent reds)

CAPE MALAY COOKING WITH CASS ABRAHAMS

The Cape Malay cuisine is the oldest cuisine of the Cape people. It emerged from the Malay slaves who worked in the kitchens of their Dutch masters. They could not resist adding some spice to the bland Dutch cuisine!

Today we join local “foodie” celebrity Cass Abrahams – the renowned authority on Cape Malay cuisine – for a talk and a cooking demonstration (or hands on cooking) in her home in the Southern suburbs of Cape Town.

Highlights: 

Introduction by Cass Abrahams to the history of the Cape Malay people and the recipes that emerged from the blend of the eastern spices and Dutch cuisine. Cass has spent many years researching the cuisine of her people; she obtained recipes from the old people in the community, dug into the archives and researched the history of her people and their cuisine.

Cooking demonstration of typical Cape Malay dishes (tasting as you go along!) Volunteers will be asked to come and assist with the cooking

Enjoying a relaxing lunch with Cass.

If the weather is good – enjoy relaxing outdoors in the sunshine!

The class includes:

The cooking demonstration and talk by Cass Abrahams 

A three course lunch (note that the menu changes at Cass’s discretion – however please tell us in advance if there is anything you do NOT eat) Note that no alcohol can be served as Cass’s home is a Muslim home.

COOKING WITH CHEZ KATE

Cooking/Dinner with Chef Kate in her kitchen (groups of between 6 & 12 people)

Kate took the plunge to open her own small cooking school in September 2010. She trained at one of the best cooking schools in the country, Silwood Kitchens, prior to launching into world of being a chef. Her journey took her to a variety of jobs including Singita (the most definitive & upmarket foodie safari spot you can visit), through to Sabi Sabi, working on yachts for a millionaire in the Caribbean and finally to a top catering and event company.

Join me in my cozy kitchen and learn how to cook the delicious dishes you love to eat. The meals we will prepare together are simple to make, impressive to serve and scrumptious to eat. Classes are run as an interactive demonstration, so you can sit back and watch how it’s done, or get elbow deep in the cooking. Each lesson is designed in such a way that you’ll leave the session having grasped some good solid cooking basics to build your gourmet repertoire on. I’ll also answer all your questions and give you all the important information you’ll need to make the dishes on your own at home.

Starting with a brief introduction followed by a two hour lesson, the classes end with everybody sitting down to enjoy the meal that’s been prepared with some lovely wine and new friends. I’ll also give you great table decor suggestions and party tips to make it fun and easy to entertain. Think of the food room as an alternativ e to eating at a restaurant, or slaving away over a hot stove. You’ll still get the fabulous dinner, can have your friends join you, but this way, you acquire the skills to repeat your experience effortlessly in the comfort of your own home! (Note you have the option to just book for dinner or lunch or for the cooking class, followed by the meal) Kate is open to brief on what you would like to learn or eat when visiting!

COOKING WITH CHEZ SOPHIA

Cooking with Chef Sophia (groups of 6 or more)

This works for any group wishing to have lunch or dinner in a local home in Cape Town, through to a group of friends wanting to meet up for a cooking lesson or a company wanting a fun way to team build. Simply send us your request and we will put a proposal together.

Sophia’s story: Everyone who has tasted my food has asked me the big question, “Where did you train?” Well, my love affair with food started at about five years of age. Perhaps even earlier – I think it’s in my genes! I grew up surrounded by kitchen aromas, and at around five years of age, began to show an interest. So, my grandfather fielded a wooden box for me to reach the stove beside my Lebanese Granny. And, to this day, the smell of garlic takes me straight back there… My late Mother was a very powerful force in shaping my current ‘chefdom’! One of the things she did was to allow me to be creative in the kitchen. She would ask me to prepare the meal from an early age on, and never dictate what I should be doing. She gave me the wings to fly beyond the conventional clouds of flavour in the kitchen. And so, her little Right Brain Chef was born… My Afrikaans Ouma, whom I only saw twice a year, was also a brilliant cook, and her passion for the traditional food of our beautiful c ountry inspires me to this day.

And then, yes, I studied food and wine for six years, but these years really only put words to a melody that had been playing throughout my Life!

GOURMET BRAAI (BBQ) FOR A GROUP

Ideas that work well:

GOURMET BRAAI (BBQ) FOR A GROUP (Recommended group size 10 or more)

On any summer evening in South Africa literally thousands of families will be gathered around the BBQ. Most of the time the women will be in the kitchen preparing the salads and breads to accompany the feast and sipping on glasses of sauvignon blanc. The men will be outside preparing the fire and the meat (usually steak, lamb chops and Boerewors (an Afrikaans sausage).

This is serious work and requires a few bottles of South African Breweries beers to make sure it goes smoothly). Once all the hard work is done, everyone sits down to the feast and usually match the meat with a South African red wine such as Pinotage (which is a uniquely South African wine varietal ideal for drinking with red meat).

We invite your group to join Sophia in preparing their own traditional South African braai (with a few gourmet twists) in her home in the Cape Town Southern Suburbs for the evening. This is hands on for everyone who wants to be involved. Note every braai is about having great supporters who keep those who are working happy by merrily chatting to them as they work. It is a relaxed evening of gaining insight into how we as South Africans relax around the Barbie at night, as well as an insight into one of our major national cuisines!