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15 South African Foods You Have to Try (and What Makes Each One Special)
15
items South African food is a delicious mash-up of Cape Malay, Dutch, Indian and African traditions, and most visitors only scratch the surface. This is your cheat sheet to the dishes locals actually grew up on, from spicy street food and fire-cooked braai...
Sections
3
Everyday Classics & Street Food
Braai Culture
Sweet Treats & Drinks
Everyday Classics & Street Food
Often called South Africa's national dish, bobotie is gently spiced curried mince baked with dried fruit and topped with a golden savoury egg custard. It's a Cape Malay classic that's sweet, savoury and fragrant all at once. It's traditionally served...
Bobotie
Durban's gift to the world: a hollowed-out quarter or half loaf of white bread filled to the brim with fiery curry. It was born in Durban's Indian community and is eaten with your hands, using the scooped-out bread ‘virgin’ to mop up the gravy. Mutto...
Bunny chow
Cape Town's legendary sub: a whole foot-long roll stuffed with slap chips (soft, vinegary fries), plus your choice of polony, steak, masala steak, chicken or calamari, drowned in sauce. It was invented in Athlone in 1976 and is built to be shared bet...
The Gatsby
Sosaties are South Africa's answer to kebabs: cubes of lamb or chicken marinated overnight in a sweet-and-tangy Cape Malay curry sauce with apricots and onions, then threaded onto skewers and grilled over coals. The name comes from the Malay words fo...
Sosatie
Vetkoek literally means ‘fat cake’: a ball of dough deep-fried until golden and crisp outside, fluffy inside. Split it open and fill it with curried mince for a hearty lunch, or go sweet with syrup, jam or apricot jam and cheese. It's comfort food ea...
Vetkoek
Braai Culture
Never call it a barbecue. A braai is a social ritual: a wood or charcoal fire, a group of friends, and hours of standing around the flames before anything is actually cooked. There's even a national Braai Day on 24 September (Heritage Day). If a loca...
The Braai (South African Barbecue)
The king of the braai: a thick, coiled ‘farmer’s sausage' of coarsely minced beef (often with pork or lamb), seasoned with toasted coriander, nutmeg, cloves and a splash of vinegar. By law it must be at least 90% meat. Grill the whole coil over mediu...
Boerewors
Forget beef jerky. Biltong is air-dried rather than smoked, cured with vinegar, salt, black pepper and toasted coriander, and sliced to order at butcheries and biltong shops everywhere. Choose between ‘wet’ and fatty or ‘dry’ and crumbly, and try dro...
Biltong
A spicy vegetable relish of onions, tomatoes, peppers, carrots and baked beans with curry spices, said to have started in the gold mines and townships of Johannesburg. Every family has its own recipe and heat level. It's the essential side at any bra...
Chakalaka
The humble staple that feeds the nation: maize meal cooked into a porridge. Served stiff (stywe pap) you roll it into balls and dip it into stews; crumbly (krummelpap) it's a braai side with tomato-and-onion sauce; soft and runny it's breakfast with ...
Pap (Mieliepap)
Potjiekos means ‘little pot food’: a slow-cooked stew layered in a three-legged cast-iron pot over a low fire for hours, with meat at the bottom and vegetables on top. The golden rule is not to stir it. It's less of a recipe and more of a lazy Sunday...
Potjiekos
Sweet Treats & Drinks
Two treats share one name. The Afrikaner koeksister is a plaited dough twist, deep-fried then plunged into ice-cold syrup so it's crunchy, sticky and dripping. The Cape Malay koesister is a soft, spiced doughnut rolled in coconut, traditionally eaten...
Koeksister
South Africa's favourite dessert: a spongy, caramelised baked pudding made with apricot jam, soaked while still hot in a buttery cream sauce until it's rich and gooey. Serve it warm with custard or vanilla ice cream. You'll find it on the menu at alm...
Malva pudding
Milk tart is the taste of a South African childhood: a thin, crisp pastry case filled with a light, creamy milk custard and dusted generously with cinnamon. It's gentler and less eggy than a custard tart, and it's served at every bake sale, tea and f...
Melktert
Rooibos ('red bush') grows naturally in only one small corner of the world, the Cederberg mountains a few hours north of Cape Town. Brewed as a caffeine-free, naturally sweet red tea, it's what South Africans drink morning and night, often with milk ...
Rooibos Tea