It gives me hope that trendy chefs are cooking African food: Dorah Sitole

Culinary doyenne shares her thoughts on why SA has been slow to embrace traditional flavours

21 October 2020 - 15:57 By hilary biller
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Culinary legend Dorah Sitole recently released a new cookbook called '40 Years of Iconic Food'.
Culinary legend Dorah Sitole recently released a new cookbook called '40 Years of Iconic Food'.
Image: Roelene Prinsloo

Over the course of her long career, well-respected food personality and former magazine editor Dorah Sitole has inspired countless South Africans with her recipes and cookbooks — the latest being 40 Years of Iconic Food (NB Publishers). 

She's also showcased traditional African dishes abroad, from Rome to Japan.

“Deep down I have this urge for the world to accept our food and put it on a pedestal like many other cuisines,” says Sitole. “But why do I expect the world to embrace our cuisine when many South Africans haven’t?”

The good news though, is that this is slowly changing.

Here, Sitole shares her thoughts on what's needed to encourage Mzansi to embrace our own unique flavours:

Beyond melktert and malva pudding, how far do you think SA has evolved in embracing African food?

It’s taking time and we have a long way to go, although a lot of the new chefs popping up want their food to reflect the return to their roots and are doing African food. It gives one hope when chefs who are classically trained like Les da Chef want to cook African food.

As the country’s first black food writer, did it feel as if you were carrying the mantle in a white-dominated arena for African food?

The responsibility, yes, but felt like carrying it on my shoulders like an activist, no. I felt it was my responsibility to introduce African food into the pages of the woman’s magazine where I worked at the time. It was OK to publish recipes like beef stroganoff but I needed to keep reminding the readers about African food and that of other continents to discover how good it is.

How did you reflect what was happening in the chef arena at the time?

While at the magazine I would highlight chefs in the industry and many times when I approached a restaurant or hotel, African food was a no-no. The common response at the time was: “No, our head chef is Swiss or French.” This is changing. There is lots of talent emerging who are cooking the food they love by embracing African food.

Why do you believe it has been slow to change?

I have this feeling that many white South Africans are scared of African food. I never feel the effort from my white friends in taking an interest in learning about our cultural dishes. Take dombolo (steamed bread), it’s so easy on the palate and anyone can eat it, yet my friends have never shown any interest or asked me to show them how to make it.

As a proud grandmother, have your grandchildren embraced traditional food?

It’s a strange thing. My son and his family love takeaways and my grandson loves sushi. He can’t get enough of it. Yet in the same way, would a Japanese boy living in Tokyo eat African food? No, because he’s not exposed or knows anything about it. We embrace so many foods of different cultures in SA — Chinese, Thai, Mexican — but why are we not embracing African food? To try to change it, it has to happen at home.

Foodies are embracing social media with lots of new voices coming to the fore. What are your thoughts about this?

I’m enjoying seeing the new voices in the food arena. Finally, something has happened and the penny has dropped. There are emerging voices who are gutsy and fearless and have huge amounts of energy. They are the new “food influencers”. Funny, I never thought of myself as a food influencer, I was just doing a job which didn’t feel like work.

Click here to get a taste of the recipes in Sitole's new cookbook, '40 Years of Iconic Food'.


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