Things I love about Cape Town – food, the people and the history

Happy Monday.

Ah… Cape Town… How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  With apologies to the Bard himself 🙂

This is my third blog post about my trip to Cape Town.  You can find the others – The Things I love about Cape town – the views and the oceans and Things I love about Cape Town – the Mountain.  This post looks at my feelings about the food, the people and the history of Cape Town.

First, a little history of Cape Town.  According to Wikipedia – what did we do before Google and Wikipedia?  Oh… don't answer that, I know.  My life began with black and white television, portable radios and a phone anchored to a specially designed furniture piece that sat in the entrance hall! :-)  Anyway, I digress.  Where was I?  Oh, yeah!  The story of Cape Town.

The area known today as Cape Town has no written history before it was first mentioned by Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias in 1488. The German anthropologist Theophilus Hahn recorded that the original name of the area was '||Hui!Gais' – a toponym in the indigenous Khoi language meaning "where clouds gather" – and that's certainly pretty reflective of what it feels like some days.  But it's the rediscovery of Cape Town by Vasco da Gama in 1497 that most people remember – he was looking for a more direct route from Europe to Asia.  Therefore, it's the geographic location of Cape Town that is the reason it came into being for the Europeans – long after Vasco da Gama's rediscovery.

Jan van Riebeck and others employed by the Dutch East India Company, were sent to  Cape Town in 1625 to establish a colony to replenish supplies for ships traveling to and from Asia – yay Vasco – it only took another 130 years  after you first found that route:-)  The Cape (as it is more colloquially called) was under Dutch rule from 1652 to 1795 and again from 1803 to 1806.  This makes Cape Town the oldest European base in South Africa.  It was from here that settlers moved up into the hinterlands of South Africa – trust me.. that was a Great Trek…. not only were you going from sea level to 6000 above sea level in Johannesburg, but you had to battle the elements  – including crocodiles, lion, rhino, etc!!

There has been a LOT of migration to this region throughout history – some of it intentional – some of it via slavery.  This means that Cape Town is incredibly diverse in it's people and in it's food and culture.  From 5 star European-style formal meals, to shebeens (I suppose you can think of them as local speakeasys) where locals eat  pap (crushed maize similar to grits) and wors (basically a sausage), listen to the sounds of South African musicians and drink the original African craft beer – utwala (pronounced cha-la) that has, for many generations, been made by women. The recipe is passed down through the generations and generally consists of sorghum.  I must admit, I've never even had a sip, but those that have tell me it has a very metallic, floury and sour taste.  Regardless of what food you are looking for – you can most likely find it here – from amazing Portuguese food, fabulous Indian meals, Afrikaans braais (BBQs), English style fish and chips, amazing seafood – and – the most distinctive of all – Cape Malay.  Cape Malay food is rich in spices and is a mixture that represents the Malay, Indonesian, Indian, Sri Lanka  enslaved people that brought with them their own favorites.  Every generation of immigrant has had a hand in crafting amazing food in Cape Town. So, whether it's craft beer (original style or more modern), amazing wines, great coffee and tea – or samplings of cuisine from around the world – Cape Town is the place to do it! 

Along with the colorful food, comes some amazingly colorful houses in an area of Cape Town called Bo-Kaap (meaning above the Cape).  Bo-Kaap was originally settled in the 1700s and was a enslaved persons encampment for people from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and other parts of Africa.  It was traditionally a Muslim area and the first mosque was built in 1794.  It has steep streets and amazingly colorful houses.  Each house is painted a different color.  But why are they so colorful now?  Because during the original times of British control – and during the years of apartheid – it is said that theen enslaved people's houses were to be uniform in color – all white.  Once freedom was gained in the early 90s – residents began to rebel against the confines of a totally white (how fitting for the apartheid era!!) house and decided to go all out with color – and I am so glad they did!  Here are some photos I took whilst visiting Bo-Kaap on my trip:

Oh… I just love ALL that fabulous color!!

This yellow house is now the museum:

Today, Bo-kaap is still a very residential area with local shops and businesses of all types, but it has also become a top tourist destination in the area.  And rightly so!  If you are ever in Cape Town, visit Bo-Kaap and try some of the fabulous Cape Malay dishes.  You won't regret it.

Cape Town is also home to two very large townships.  Personally, I am generally not into what is known as "poverty tourism", however there was a tour on our roster that I decided to participate in.  This was a small group tour organized by our travel agency – about 15 of us participated.  The objective was not just to visit Langa, but to also visit the small museum – Langa Dompas – that has been set up in the township to help people understand the area, it's peoples and it's struggles.  It is set in a small square in what used to be the "Pass Office".  A stark reminder of what life was like for people of color under the Apartheid regime.  Where locals were constantly policed and had to show their "pass books" to prove residency.  The old Pass Office – now the Langa Dompas museum – sets out the history in an educational and factual way.  Our tour started here and then we drove to the real reason we were there.  A visit to what has become a renowned local restaurant called Mzansi in Langa Township.

The story of Mzansi was told to us by the owners of the restaurant Nomonde and Vukile Siyaka.  It was a hot day when we visited Mzansi and the heat of the day was burning my feet.  We walked to the restaurant and we could hear the sounds that are so familiar to me – the distinctive sound of Africa's own jazz emanating from a brightly colored building down the street.  People around us went about their business and we stopped outside the restaurant.  A darling face peered out of the door of the house opposite – I waved and she rewarded me with the biggest smile.  Her younger sister appeared and watched me – I decided to stick out my tongue at her and she cheekily stuck hers out right back at me and then ran back to her sister laughing.  That seemed to set the stage for the rest of the trip to Langa.

Mzansi is brightly painted on the outside – and the inside:

We sat at long tables and the delicious food was served buffet style.  The rythmic sounds of the local Marimba band – using home made Marimba (a wooden xylophone), maracas, African drums and a saxophone – quickly had us all tapping our feet.  For me, it was a trip back in time to when I first went to South Africa.  As a lover of music, the sound has always captured my imagination and sitting there, listening to the band, sitting around a long table, eating great food – certainly brought back memories.

Althought the 15 or so of us had hardly said a word to each other for the early part of the trip, the magic of Mzansi took hold and we all shared a wonderful lunch followed by dancing to the music.  It was absolutely magical.  In the middle of the restaurant was an open courtyard where a local artist was painting using a technique I had never seen before.  He was combining wonderful and typically African colors for his palatte but with the addition of sand to the mix.  The sand adds texture and dimension to the paintings.  Of course, I had to buy two of them – both vegetables!  Even though he had wonderful paintings of typically African animals and scenes, I wanted the vegetables to remind me of the food.

We learned that Mzansi employs locals in the kitchen, for serving, cleaning, musicians, artists and even locals who could organize other cultural activities such as boot dancing and even tours of the township.  So, this was truly an enterprise that was not only putting Langa on the map, it was teaching people about the history of the area and providing jobs and income to the residents.  I spent about 10 minutes talking with the artist about his inspiration, his technique and his life as an artist in a township.  The couryard in the restaurant is covered and the light pours through and his paintings shine in that light.  The South African flag proudly displayed against the brick wall.

Here are the two paintings that i bought:

And here's a closeup of the apple showing the fabulous light and shade and the texture from the sand – genius!

Mzansi (meaning South) was magical.  The love and heart put into this place are felt in every single part of the experience.  We all left smiling, dancing and having felt that we had learnd more about Langa, the history and the sheer joy of what a wonderful lunch served with love and accompanied by wonderful music can create. 

Our next stop was Groot Constantia for a wine tasting.  Groot Constantia is one of my all time favorite buildings in the world.  Admittedly I haven't seen the Taj Mahal yet :-)  but I have visited many, many, many beautiful buildings in my day.  Founded in the very early days of the Cape the building is a perfect representation of the Dutch Renaissance Style – but I think of it more as representative of the Cape Dutch Style.   You all know that I love clean and simple – and I love symmetry.  Cape Dutch architecture has that feeling of clean and simple lines (with just enough curves to make it interesting) and incredible symmetry.  Everything seems to be just in the right place.  The farm was first established by Simon van der Stel back in 1685.  This makes Groot Constantia one of the oldest wine farms in South Africa.  The wines were a little meh for me, but I went hoping we would get to the old homestead and I could once again visit that grand old dame of a building.  Sadly, we only saw the tasting rooms!  The old lady was greatly damaged by fire in 1925 and had to be faithfully restored to it's old glory.  The old homestead houses many artifacts from earlier times – along with reminders of the strength of the Dutch East India company.

Groot Constantia Homestead – photo Wikipedia

Here's a photo taken from the Groot Constatia web site – where you can see the detailing of the front much more clearly:

Detailed view of the front of Groot Constatia Homestead – photo Groot Constantia

It was a glorious day.  Beginning with a ride up to the top of the mountain in a revolving floored cable car, to Langa to learn of it's history, eat delicious food and listen to wonderful, rhythmic sounds of the Marimba Band.  Savoring a little wine at the oldest winery in South Africa and ending up with a drive back to the ship via some of the most beautiful vistas – and homes – you can see anywhere in the world.

So many things make Cape Town my favorite city in the world and I have tried to represent some of them in these three blog posts dedicated to Cape Town.  It's a city of great geographical beauty, wonderful food, diverse cultures and traditions, amazing weather – hey if it's lousy on the Atlantic side of the mountain, you can drive over it and go to the Indian Ocean side – where it's pretty much guaranteed to be good weather!  Fabulous architecture – oh… and Table Mountain, Chapman's Peak Drive and Cape Point.  Pretty much can't be beaten as far as I'm concerned.  Sorry Sydney and Paris :-)  Nah!  Not sorry really 🙂

I'll be back later in the week with more travel stories.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

P.S. Interested in some Cape Malay/South African dishes?  Check out these links below:

• Fatima's traditional Cape Malay bobotie recipe – I swear I could smell that food cooking with this video
• Fatima's traditional Melk tert
• Fatima's Malva pudding – yes, we had this at Mzansi
• Pant's Down Apron's On version of Tomato Bredie
• Perfect Tasty's Vetkoeks (you'll recognize these, I'm sure!)
• Patricia Thabile's Chakalaka – also served to us at Mzansi

Looking to listen to some traditional South African music?

• Johnny Clegg and Savuka – Scatterlings of Africa
• The magnificent Miriam Makeba with Pata Pata – where you can hear Xhosa click sounds
• Mamaliye – performed by the AmaAmbush Marimbas – and tell me you can't hear the beat of Caribbean music in this!
• A little South African jazz with the magnificent Hugh Masekela and his beautiful trumpet – masterful trumpet performance underplayed with the drums sounds of Africa from Tony Allen and interspersed with vocals (full disclosure – I'm a bit of a jazz fanatic 🙂 Rejoice
• A little Brenda Fassie with Vulindlela – the African beat reigns supreme underlying Brenda's vocals – I dare you not to find yourself tapping your toes to this beat 🙂