What should you eat in South Africa? Everything! There are many different ethnic groups in multicultural South Africa, and they have each contributed to the wonderful cuisine of the country. From the British, French,

 German, and the Afrikaans among the Europeans, to the great number of African tribes in the country, each group that settled in South Africa has added to the great variety of wonderful South African food. With the influx of so many cooking methods and spices from around the world, you won't run out of new dishes to try.



A source of fresh food for sailors.

Because South Africa was a stopping point for ships traveling around the Cape of Good Hope, it was a place for growing fresh produce and providing fresh food for the ships. From its earliest days it was a place where people expected to stop and get something good to eat. The Dutch East India Company started farms, then imported slaves from Malaysia known as Cape Malays to work on them, and the Malays brought their spices with them.



Curry like your mother used to make.

The British later were responsible for bringing Hindus and Muslims from India to work as servants on the sugar cane plantations. The British found the Indians to be good managers and moved large populations into the countries they had in their Empire. These Indian people added a great variety of wonderful spicy curries to the local South African food supply. One restaurant in Durban had wonderful lamb curry, and advertised with a sign outside, "Curry like your mother used to make." Well, they hadn't met my plain cooking mother, but someone's mother gave the place some great curry recipes.