A Guide to Traditional Food in South Africa

South Africa is well known for its stunning landscapes and thrilling safaris, but it’s also a popular destination for food and wine enthusiasts.

With a rich culinary heritage influenced by a melting pot of different cultures and nationalities, traditional South African foods offer a diverse array of flavours and dishes to tantalise and delight the most discerning of palates. With 12 official languages, it is no wonder there are so many diverse dining experiences just waiting to be explored – not to mention all the culinary influences from the German, French, British and Portuguese colonial settlers, who all left their mark.

These are a few of the main cuisines that you may encounter during your stay in South Africa.

Maize meal is the staple of most of the indigenous South African tribes’ diets. The more common name for this is ‘pap’ – a thick porridge that is eaten throughout the day – with milk and brown sugar for breakfast, and as an accompaniment to lunch and supper served with a meat or tomato-based sauce. Also served with pap is ‘chakalaka’, a spicy vegetable relish made with onions, peppers, carrots and tomato – with varying degrees of chilli added to give it a bit of kick!

Rather than pap, The Xhosa people from the Eastern Cape prefer samp (dried corn) and beans as their base dish (Mandela’s favourite!). While traditional drinks include amasi, a sour milk and maheu, a sorghum-based beer.

As the arrival point for the Dutch East Indian Company in the 1600s, the Western Cape is heavily influenced by the traditional cuisine of the slaves brought from Bengal, Java, Malaysia and Indonesia. A must-try is Cape Malay cuisine, which makes of complex spice blends that are long-standing family recipes passed down from generation to generation.

If you visit the Bo Kaap, a suburb just outside of Cape Town’s CBD known for its streets lined with brightly painted Cape Dutch homesteads, you will have the opportunity to join a Cape Malay family as they prepare a family meal, enjoying it all together around the table as you swap stories. On the menu, you may find popular dishes such as rice-based biryani, frikkadels (meatballs), samosas (filled and fried pastry triangles), tomato bredie (a rich stew) and sosaties (kebabs), as well as lots of fish-based dishes like smoked snoek and pickled fish.

One of the most famous dishes is ‘bobotie’ made from minced meat (typically lamb or beef) mixed with curry spices, onions, milk-soaked bread, and dried fruit, topped with an egg and milk mixture and baked until golden.

KwaZulu-Natal is home to around 1.5 million Indian people and is well known for its delicious and fiery Durban curries and delicious samoosas. The curries are a mix of traditional Indian recipes adapted to showcase South African ingredients, resulting in a very distinctive cuisine unique to the country. In most cases, curry is served with rice and roti (flatbread) – or in a bunny chow. This is a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with either meat or vegetable curry. No plate required – and no actual bunnies are involved.

Durban Indians are well-known for their love of extremely spicy food, so if you are sensitive to chilli, it is important to specify that you want the mildest version. For chilli-lovers, see how hot you can go!

If you are interested in sampling Afrikaans cuisine, then it is worth visiting the Cape Winelands as well as the areas surrounding Cape Town like the Whale Coast, as well as South Africa’s administrative capital of Tshwane.

Meat plays a central role for those of Afrikaans or Dutch descent. Favourite dishes include ‘potjiekos’ which is a layered stew slow-cooked over several hours over hot coals in a three-legged cast iron pot – often served with either pap or rice on the side. Other popular meats include ‘boerewors’ which means ‘farmer sausage’ made from a blend of beef and pork and flavoured with spices like coriander and cumin. Game meat like ostrich and venison are also popular, along with fresh seafood like prawns.

While waiting for the meat to cook – a popular snack is more meat, in the form of ‘biltong’. This cured, salted and air-dried meat is a popular snack. Unlike jerky, biltong is air-dried and can be made from beef or game meats like kudu and springbok. It stems from the Great Trek when the Voortrekkers had to preserve their meat for the long journey by ox-wagon from the Western Cape to the inland areas where they settled.

Despite the huge array of cultural influences, there is one food experience that unites all South Africans – the traditional ‘braai’, known to the rest of the world as a barbecue. There is nothing South Africans love more than grilling over an open fire. Day or night and whether you find yourself on the beach, in the bush or in the cities, this much-loved tradition is close to the heart of every South African and is one of the most iconic local food experiences you will encounter during your time in the country.

South Africans have a sweet tooth – and it isn’t unusual for even main meals to feature accompaniments like ‘pampoentert’ or pumpkin pie, that is packed with butter, sugar and condensed milk resulting in something that tastes more like a dessert than a savoury side. That said, dessert is always on the menu, with a few local dishes that are truly unique to the country.

One of the most loved desserts is malva pudding which is similar to sticky toffee pudding, flavoured with apricot jam and topped with a buttery syrup sauce which seeps into the sponge. It is served warm, often accompanied by rich custard, or creamy vanilla ice-cream. Another favourite is ‘melktert’ or milk tart, featuring a sweet pastry or biscuit crust filled with a milky custard and sprinkled with cinnamon.

After a braai, South Africans love to serve a no-bake peppermint crisp tart with layers of whipped cream, caramel and crushed peppermint crisp chocolate bars, all set on a biscuit base. And at teatime, a firm favourite is the Afrikaans-influenced koeksister, a plaited dough pastry deep fried and soaked in syrup, or the Cape Malay version known as a ‘koester’ which is round and spiced with cardamon, ginger, cinnamon and aniseed before being dipped in syrup and rolled in coconut.

If you are setting off on a South African safari, you can rest assured that you will be well-fed. All the lodges put a huge focus on their culinary offering – and each moment of the trip is likely to be accompanied by delicious food. From something freshly baked with your morning coffee, to a sumptuous hot bush breakfast somewhere in the middle of the wilderness, along with three-course lunches and dinners, each opportunity to eat is a celebration.

Perhaps best of all is the stop that you will make halfway into your morning or evening game drive. Parking the vehicle somewhere beautiful, your guide will produce an array of snacks and drinks you can enjoy as you climb out of the vehicle to stretch your legs. Amarula is a liqueur made with cream and marula fruit (a favourite of elephants), similar to Baileys but with hints of caramel, vanilla and citrus. It is delicious served over ice, or as a shot added to your morning coffee or hot chocolate, along with ‘rusk’, which is a chunky, dry biscuit often flavoured with buttermilk, muesli or chocolate and perfect for dunking.

If you’ve stopped for an evening sundowner, why not try one of South Africa’s craft gins such as Inverroche, Cruxland, Six Dogs Karoo Gin or the Gin Society Blood Orange Gin, accompanied by some dried mango, roasted nuts and a few handfuls of biltong.

Whether you're seeking fine dining or local street food, South Africa offers great options for foodies. From traditional South African food to modern twists, the country’s culinary landscape is as diverse as its people. Our travel researchers are on standby to curate your ultimate culinary adventure. Please get in touch on +44 (0) 20 38215994 (UK), +1 (833) 215 9353 (US) or at explore@niarratravel.com.