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Durban Cuisine

Durban, the third largest city in South Africa, is a port city, so expect fish. But what you might not know or expect, is that it also is home to one of the largest Indian populations outside of India, and that means a curry paradise.

The story goes that the Zulu King ‘Shaka’ was so grateful to an adventurer who helped him recover from a battle wound that he gave him a 30 mile coastal strip, a hundred miles in depth. He and other settlers, in 1835, named the newly build city d’Urban after the then cape governor. As with many colonised countries, labour was brought in from other countries and in Durban’s case these were mostly Indians.

There are many curry-dens in and around Durban and of course all ingredients needed to make your own perfect curry will be in every supermarket.

The Durban speciality is a simple yet brilliant dish, Bunnychow. This dish is quite unique and is merely a hollowed out quarter of a loaf which is then filled with the curry of your choice. So you munch the bread and curry together, yummy.

Due to its climate, warm summers, mild winters, Durban has become a very popular tourist city, and to that end, many other nations’ restaurants have set up shop, which if you are not keen on the city’s main cuisine, is not a bad thing. Italian, Chinese, and many excellent fish restaurants adorn the harbour, so as a worker in Durban you should be able to find something to satisfy those taste buds.

As with all food in South Africa, much will be local grown, or local caught, as in fish or game. Supermarkets will carry a huge range of international food, due to the many cultures that settled there nearly 200 years ago.

As with all nations, cities, you have to try the food to get a taste of the land you are in. For me, sitting in a portside restaurant, watching the sun go down with a plate of freshly caught fish simply cooked is my idea of heaven.