Food

After last week's post, I got an assignment from sister-in-law to write something about food. Thanks for the homework, Kim! :-) Actually, it's a very good idea, but one that might not be all that exciting. That said, here are my thoughts on the culinary delights and disappointments of South Africa.

Variety. We have quite a few options when it comes to dining out here...French, Italian and what is best described as California cuisine because of the light fare and broad range of dishes. Different from the US, portions are much smaller. Many restaurants are located in the malls here. The others are sprinkled throughout town and often in residential areas with not much else around. The mall location are generally large and accommodate a lot of patrons, while the residential ones are small...maybe 10-12 tables. One of our favorite places is called Gameal's, a small mediterranean cafe in the strip mall down the street from our house. They have some delicious vegetarian dishes for me and meat dishes for Andrew. What is absolutely the best here are the Indian restaurants. Durban is home to the largest Indian population outside India...so there are more options there. But here in Pretoria, we have a few really great options as well. In my first couple of weeks here, I had sushi at two or three different Japanese places, which were quite good. There are also a handful of Chinese and Thai...but I can't think of one Mexican place. There is no place to get chips and salsa here....though we've heard about one Mexican place in Jo'burg. I'll have to investigate.

Vegetarian vs Meat. South Africans are big meat eaters. It's a dream for Andrew because people feel like he does about vegetables...they just take up room in his stomach that meat could occupy. Ostrich, chicken, pork and lamb are big...as well as ox tail which is used in stews. But I have found the vegetarian options to be plentiful and good. Salads are served everywhere and with a lot of Greek influence. Feta cheese is very popular as are olives and fresh peppers..which are common in just about every salad. I've always liked feta, but not as much as I LOVE the feta here. It is super creamy here and not quite as pungent as US feta. Next to feta, haloumi (a Greek cheese) is extremely popular. Fried haloumi is an appetizer at most restaurants and if they don't use feta in a salad, then you'll get haloumi. We found a cheese stall at the Rosebank market in Jo'burg that sells delicious spiced haloumi.

Local food. There are a few Afrikaner restaurants around serving very hearty meats and casserole type things. We haven't been yet...but everyone tells us to wait until winter. Otherwise, we've been to a pan-African restaurant in downtown Tshwane (Pretoria). The dishes were borrowed from around the continent including Ethiopia and Morocco. One of the most popular local dishes is called Pop or Mealie Meal. It's a corn-based mash that is totally flavorless so people put lots of sauces and meats on it.

Price. Dining out is rather affordable. Entrees at more expensive restaurants here range from $10-$15. Overall, food is slightly cheaper than the US. But where you really save is on the alcohol. Drinks are super cheap. A beer, glass of wine or mixed drink may be $3-$5. Bottles of wine (mostly South African and some European options) are very affordable as well...running $10-$15 per bottle. They don't seem to mark up the wine at all. And most places allow you to bring your own wine for a nominal corkage fee.

Service. South Africa is not all that service friendly...with some minor exceptions here and there. Servers at restaurants get at most 10% of the bill. And at most places, people are just not that concerned about helping. Maybe it's the lack of financial incentive? I don't know...but even at stores in the mall, you can rarely find anyone who will help you...even though there are usually a lot of workers available. But tipping is common almost everywhere. We keep a pile of coins in our car to tip people in parking lots. During the day, it's expected that you tip the attendant about 2 rands (about 25 cents). At night, you tip about 5 rands. The tips are primarily about them watching your car...from theft, dents, etc.

Grocery stores. You can find many comparable products to what we see at home...depending on where you are. The big super market near our house is called Spar and is patronized by a lot of US expats so they have more US products than other Spar locations. But they do NOT have good corn chips at all. And I've only seen one place to buy guacamole...and it's just so so. I haven't paid too much attention to the cost except that fruits, vegetables and wine are super cheap. Everything else seems like it would be at home. Spar reminds me of a Vons or Ralphs (think Schnucks in St. Louis or Stop N Shop in New York). For a step up with better produce and organic meats there is Woolworths (people here call it Woolies). This is more like Gelsons (Dierbergs). And then there are a number of discount stores called Pick N Pay (which is where I buy my cell phone minutes) and Checkers.

I'll close with another observation about expiration dates. Even though I'm not the meat eater in our house, the meats here seem to have little to no preservatives and hormones pumped in them--whether they're organic or not. So no super-sized chicken breasts, etc. Fresh meat often has the same sell by and use by dates...and is usually the day that you buy them or the following day. So it's fresh and presumed that you are buying what you're going to eat that day or immediately freeze for later. Cheese expiration is a strange one for me. Most say that they must be eaten within 3 days of opening which I've never heard of before.

Anyway...that's about all I can think of for now...