Page 18 - Through the eyes of an African chef

THROUGH THE EYES OF AN AFRICAN CHEF
My passion for African food
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KZN
I WAS FORTUNATE TO be raised by a father who had travelled and worked as a cook on ships. Thamsanqa Mqwebu left his missionary village, Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), as a young man to travel the world, and became immersed in a passion for food and cooking. He enriched our lives with his Sunday meals, which the family always looked forward to. He instilled in us a sense of culinary adventure and I learned to eat and taste rare and raw food before it was mainstream and, unlike most children, to eat and enjoy vegetables of all kinds.
I’m sure we can all subjectively say that we grew up in families of amazing cooks, however my food experience growing up subconsciously led me to my love for food and cooking. My Xhosa grandmother, Noluthando MaGaqa Kunene of the AbaThembu tribe, was a pioneer. She owned what Americans call a ‘diner’ in Howick, KZN. Her husband, a translator of the court, and his diverse creed and prestige of colleagues would commune there during their lunch breaks.
To think that a young lady from eMdantsane, Eastern Cape, married a Swati national, moved to Pietermaritzburg in KZN, and started a restaurant business in the thick of Apartheid, challenged me to keep going as an entrepreneurial chef. Gogo Noluthando and her brother left uMdantsane at a very young age to escape the vicious chains of poverty. Her brother moved to Kimberly, and they communicated through messages carried by the miners on their way home.
My first burn was on her coal stove, where I fell with both hands on the scorching plates. She bathed my wounds for weeks afterwards. She later taught me to cook porridge, ujeqe (steamed bread) and perform other cooking tasks that were suitable for a pre-teen. She also instructed me in the importance of growing your own food. I have blissful memories of her orchard at the back of her little Howick house where she grew apples, figs, oranges and grapes among infinite varieties of vegetables. In her frailer days, she moved to uMlazi township with our family. She started a food garden at one side of the house, flowers beds on the other and a chicken run in the back yard.
Nothing was wasted. We were encouraged to dispose of peels, grass, eggshells and the like for what I later grew up to discover was organic compost. She influenced my love for food and culture.