FREDDIE DIAS

Head chef at Basalt at The Peech Hotel in Johannesburg

The food memory:

Being from a Portuguese Catholic background, religious holidays like

Easter and Christmas were of particular significance for Freddie growing up in Johannesburg. “Both my parents – my dad Tony and my late mother Elena – were born in Mozambique,” says Freddie. “My mother’s father had a bakery there and over Easter he’d bake lots of special pastries and sell painted, hard-boiled eggs to his customers.” While Easter egg hunts weren’t really a big thing for Freddie and his brothers Hugo and Nuno, sitdown meals with extended family were a great tradition.

“On Good Friday, we would always have bacalhau, or salted cod, which is very traditional in Portugal,” says Freddie. “My mother would often make bacalhau com natas – a bake with onion, cream and potatoes. On Easter Sundays, we’d usually braai or have a roast with salads. And dessert would be pudim flan, kind of like a Portuguese crème caramel.”

December holiday memories are particularly poignant for Freddie.

“Christmas was always massive for us,” he says. “Because we’re Catholic, the big celebration would happen on Christmas Eve. My mom would prepare the traditional meal of bacalhau, just lightly boiled, with Portuguese cabbage that she’d make with turnips, potatoes and chickpeas.” Last Christmas was a particularly tough one for Freddie’s family, as it was the first one they spent together without his mother. “When my mom became sick, I took over the reins and did all the cooking, including the Christmas meals,” he says. “It was quite a daunting task but it’s important for me to keep our family traditions alive.”

@freddiedias; @thepeechhotel

On Good Friday, we would always have

bacalhau, which is very traditional in Portugal”

– Freddie Dias