OLD SCHOOL… WITH A TWIST

‘Celebrating our heritage as South Africans is very important to me,ʼ says Bertus Basson, an award-winning chef who has his own TV show inspiring restaurateurs towards greatness, In Die Sop: Restaurant Evolusie. ʻWe build the future of South African food by acknowledging our food heritage.ʼ

Chefs are increasingly looking back to their roots to incorporate memories, tastes, and ingredients from their childhoods – and further back, to their ancestors and their culture – into the so-called “sophisticated” dining experiences we can have when we dress up all fancy for that special restaurant meal.

Emazulwini is a tiny 10-seater modern Zulu restaurant at Cape Townʼs Makers Landing, the V&A Waterfrontʼs cruise terminal food hub. Here, chef Mmabatho Molefe, just 27 years old, presents a seven-course menu, wholly based in her childhood (which she spent in KwaZulu-Natal, where she grew up in the middle