TASTES OF DURBAN by David Bird and Deshnie Govender. Published by Struik Lifestyle, R260
One’s mind goes to curries and bunny chows when you think of Durban, a city with a solid reputation for culinary excellence and evocative food markets.
The book does have many dishes representative of the city’s vibrant Indian community, but there is so much more to it too, including flavours introduced by the Portuguese, the Zulu nation and the British, and the dishes that then evolved from them.
My late father was an accomplished cook who had lived in Durban as a young man for some years.
This book brought back many of my own food memories related to that undeniable influence.
It’s a fine collection of authentic, unpretentious recipes, and the pictures and descriptions will have you salivating almost right away.