Flavour ICONS
In SA food, elegance and beauty exist on a dynamic level”
When asking this question, renowned food anthropologist and writer Anna Trapido inspired me to think about how validated we feel when we re-experience the tastes and smells from our childhoods. Her work reminds us how important it is for South Africans to know that our food history is worthy of being archived, cherished and documented. Elegance and beauty exist on a dynamic level in our food, in our cooking and in the different ways in which we eat together. This sentiment is wonderfully captured by the 100 Flavours Exhibition at Maker’s Landing in Cape Town – a great thinking tool for exploring our food identity and stimulating debate.
Curated by Anna, Studio H creative director Hannerie Visser and a number of collaborators, the installation takes visitors on a journey through local ingredients, recipes and tools. From cooking over fire in the Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng, to the ancient honey hunters depicted in San rock art in KwaZulu-Natal and the prehistoric shellfish middens of the Cape West Coast, this can essentially be described as a pop-up museum of South Africa’s culinary history, highlights, ingredients, mishaps that turned into meals (iskhokho), and household items most likely to appear in an average pantry.
It’s a monumental work. As Anna says: “100 is a large number, but also a very small one. There will always be something missing – which is to say that the foods that do not appear in the exhibition matter as much as the ones that do: bokkoms and biltong suspended with string, a can of pilchards in tomato sauce, a pile of addictively sweet skopas, a rooibos shrub, sorghum in its rough and refined forms, moskonfyt, and a myriad more, with detailed explanations about how we came to eat these ingredients, as well as dispel the myths around some of them.”
Anna regales me with the awesome tale of how they managed to source termites. Justice Mathupe – Limpopo edible insect tracker extraordinaire – got a plastic bag full of the live bugs onto a taxi to Cape Town to be roasted and added to the exhibition.
Among the others who contributed their time, knowledge and effort were the late Dorah Sitole, who was integral to the discussion around Black street food culture; Nikki Brighton at Mpophomeni Food for her insights into the indigenous plants of KwaZulu-Natal; Dr Tracy Nelwamondo of Modern Traditions for hustling hard to find marula nuts out of season; beekeeper Mokgadi Mabela of Native Nosi for her outstanding honey; and Praising Mabunda for making all that xigugu – a nutty, earthy Tsonga preparation, which was cooked for 20 hours and passed through a number of channels and hard-working hands to make it to the exhibition. The collaborative energy here is extraordinarily inspiring.
When you walk through a curtain of imphepho ropes, you’ll discover a minimalistic, white backdrop against which the ingredients pop and shine – a visual, delicious, interactive library of all the foods you may never have heard about, or thought you would never see again. This is an open-ended exhibition where everyone’s opinion matters and ingredients and anecdotes are constantly added. There’s an incredible sense of place and feeling of personal recognition that makes it a must-see for anyone who has the privilege to check it out.
So go on, let “The 100” take you on a taste tour through SA’s epicurean identity.
The 100 Flavours Exhibition is on until September 2021 at Maker’s Landing, Cape Town Cruise Terminal,
V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
“WE ARE WHAT WE EAT. SO, WHO ARE WE?”